Targeting excessive worry in adolescents using an online scalable intervention: A randomized controlled trial (Dnr 2020-03612)

Our research group has developed a novel psychological intervention for adolescents with excessive worry (“BIP Worry”). Results from a case series (face-to-face format, N=12) and a multiple baseline trial (online format, N=13), indicated very high compliance rates (96%) and clinically meaningful reductions in worry (Cohen’s d = 1.57) (Wahlund, Andersson, et al., 2020; Wahlund, Jolstedt, et al., 2020). The BIP Worry intervention also showed a positive spillover effect on other, non-targeted psychiatric symptoms (e.g., less worry about panic attacks, lower avoidance, improved mood) and functioning (better ability to concentrate on school). The current study aims to test the efficacy of BIP Worry (online format) relative to treatment as usual under randomized controlled conditions. The objectives of this randomized controlled trial are to evaluate:
a) whether BIP Worry is more effective than treatment as usual in
reducing worry; b) whether changes in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) during treatment, which is the putative change mechanism in BIP Worry, mediates change in worry, and more so than changes in symptoms of anxiety and depression during treatment; and c) whether reductions in worry during the treatment phase lead to reductions in non-targeted psychiatric symptoms during the post-treatment to follow-up interval (cascade effect).
Ethical approval - Dnr 2020-03612