Willingness to Use Internet-Based Versus Bibliotherapy Interventions in a Representative US Sample: Cross-sectional Survey Study

Abstract

Background Self-help interventions have the potential to increase access to evidence-based mental health care. Self-help can be delivered via different formats, including print media or digital mental health interventions (DMHIs). However, we do not know which delivery format is more likely to result in higher engagement. Objective The aims of this study were to identify if there is a preference for engaging in print media versus DMHIs and whether there are individual differences in relative preferences. Methods Participants were 423 adults between the ages of 18 and 82 years (201/423, 47.5% female) recruited on Prolific as a nationally representative sample of the US population, including non-Hispanic White (293/423, 69.2%), non-Hispanic Black (52/423, 12%), Asian (31/423, 7%), Hispanic (25/423, 6%), and other individuals (22/423, 5%). We provided individuals with psychoeducation in different self-help formats and measured their willingness to use print media versus DMHIs. We also assessed participants’ demographics, personality, and perception of each format’s availability and helpfulness and used these to predict individual differences in the relative preferences. Results Participants reported being more willing to engage with print media than with DMHIs (B=0.41, SE 0.08; t422=4.91; P<.001; d=0.24, 95% CI 0.05-0.43). This preference appeared to be influenced by education level (B=0.22, SE 0.09; t413=2.41; P=.02; d=0.13, 95% CI –0.06 to 0.32), perceived helpfulness (B=0.78, SE 0.06; t411=13.66; P<.001; d=0.46, 95% CI 0.27-0.66), and perceived availability (B=0.20, SE 0.58; t411=3.25; P=.001; d=0.12, 95% CI 0.07-0.30) of the self-help format. Conclusions This study suggests an overall preference for print media over DMHIs. Future work should investigate whether receiving mental health treatment via participants’ preferred delivery format can lead to higher engagement.

Multi-stakeholder perspectives regarding preferred modalities for mental health intervention delivered in the orthopedic clinic: A qualitative analysis

“…Although patients and team members expressed somewhat favorable feasibility and equity of a printed intervention compared to a digital intervention, there is currently weaker evidence regarding the clinical Given the feedback from our stakeholders, we hypothesize that offering a well-designed printed resource referral intervention to the subset of orthopedic patients who voice a preference for a printed rather than a digital intervention could: 1) improve the previously identi ed NNT, and 2) improve quality of life for this subset of patients, relative to what they would have achieved if they were offered an intervention with which they would not be able to engage at all (49).…”

Race, Ethnicity, and Other Cultural Background Factors in Trials of Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression: Systematic Review (Preprint)

“…These barriers may be particularly pronounced in face-to-face mental health treatment settings, where patients need to engage fully with another person for it to be successful; however, innovative internet-based delivery methods (eg, internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy [iCBT] self-help) may reduce barriers to treatment by making it more accessible [21]. Moreover, there is evidence that shows that Latinx and non-Hispanic Black individuals may be willing to engage in smartphone-based interventions and bibliotherapy, respectively [22,23].…”

“…However, self-help iCBTs are not the only low-intensity treatment available. For example, bibliotherapy (ie, printed self-help media) is also a low-intensity treatment that may be preferred by many individuals, with some evidence suggesting that some racial-ethnic minoritized groups may prefer bibliotherapy over digital interventions [23].…”

Acceptability and Outcomes of Transdiagnostic Guided Self-help Bibliotherapy for Internalizing Disorder Symptoms in Adults: A Fully Remote Nationwide Open Trial

“…To increase the dissemination of psychological interventions, researchers have developed self-help approaches to the treatment of internalizing disorder symptoms. Self-help provides much of the same content as do individual psychological interventions (e.g., psychoeducation about stress, coping skills), but the content is delivered via websites or internet/phone applications (Lorenzo-Luaces et al, 2018a , b ; Wasil et al, 2021b ), books (i.e., bibliotherapy; De Jesús-Romero et al, 2022 ), other formats such as group lessons (Dolan et al, 2021 ), or some combination of these. In unguided self-help, an individual uses the self-help material by themselves.…”