eCBT Versus Standard Individual CBT for Paediatric Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder

Abstract

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by recurring obsessions and compulsions often with severe impairment affecting 1–3% of children and adolescents. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the therapeutic golden standard for paediatric OCD. However, face-to-face CBT is limited by accessibility, availability, and quality of delivery. Enhanced CBT (eCBT) a combination of face-to-face sessions at the clinic and treatment at home via webcam and a supportive app system aims to address some of these barriers. In this pilot study, we compared eCBT outcomes of 25 paediatric patients with OCD benchmarked against traditional face-to-face CBT (n = 269) from the Nordic Long-term OCD Treatment Study, the largest paediatric OCD CBT study to date. Pairwise comparisons showed no difference between eCBT and NordLOTS treatment outcomes. Mean estimate difference was 2.5 in favour of eCBT (95% CI − 0.3 to 5.3). eCBT compared to NordLOTS showed no significant differences between response and remission rates, suggesting similar effectiveness.

Secondary outcomes of enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy (eCBT) for children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder

“…Given the high prevalence of OCD and co-occurring anxiety symptoms ( Banneyer et al, 2018 ), the observed reduction in anxiety symptom levels following CBT in pediatric OCD cases holds clinical importance. Our results mirror those of a recent study by Babiano-Espinosa et al (2022) , which underscored the effectiveness of eCBT in reducing anxiety symptoms and stress. Furthermore, our findings are in line with several previous research in this domain.…”

“…In this context, we developed an enhanced CBT (eCBT) package aiming to improve both access and treatment outcomes ( Wolters et al, 2020 ). The primary studies explored, respectively, feasibility and accessibility ( Babiano-Espinosa et al, 2021 ), and efficacy ( Babiano-Espinosa et al, 2022 ) of eCBT, demonstrating significant reduction in OCD symptom severity [as measured by the Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS)], with 76% of participants classified as responders (CY-BOCS total score ≤15) and mean reduction of 63.8% on the CY-BOCS at post-treatment. The primary study ( Babiano-Espinosa et al, 2022 ) also reported further decreases in CY-BOCS scores at 3 and 6-month follow-ups.…”