A person-centred care intervention provided via eHealth to reduce fatigue in patients with common mental disorders - secondary outcome analysis from a randomized controlled trial.
Sara Alsén, Matilda Cederberg, Andreas Fors
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
In 30 seconds
This secondary outcome analysis from a randomized controlled trial assessed whether person-centred eHealth support reduced self-reported fatigue among 209 patients on sick leave for common mental disorders, recruited from nine Swedish primary health care centres. Participants received treatment as usual (TAU) alone or TAU plus telephone support and an interactive digital platform. At 3 and 6 months, the intervention group improved significantly more in global fatigue and in physical fatigue, reduced activity, and mental fatigue. General fatigue favoured intervention at 6 months, while reduced motivation favoured it at 3 months only. The abstract reports no effect sizes.
Key findings
- At 3 and 6 months, global fatigue improved significantly more with the intervention than with TAU alone.
- Physical fatigue, reduced activity, and mental fatigue improved significantly more in the intervention group at both follow-ups.
- General fatigue favoured intervention at 6 months but not 3 months; reduced motivation favoured intervention at 3 months but not 6 months.
Why it matters
Fatigue is a relevant symptom for patients with common mental disorders who are unable to work. These findings suggest that person-centred support delivered through telephone contact and a digital platform may address several dimensions of fatigue alongside usual care. The differing results across fatigue dimensions and follow-up points underscore the importance of considering both symptom domain and timing when evaluating such interventions.
What to keep in mind
This was a secondary outcome analysis, and the abstract provides no effect sizes, limiting assessment of the magnitude of the reported differences.