Sustainable Upscaling of Depression Prevention

Research shows that online unguided self-help interventions focused on psycho-education, skills training and lifestyle can prevent mild mood complaints from turning into a full-blown depression. These encouraging results are found even though the adherence to these types of interventions is generally low. With this project, the investigators examine whether effectiveness and adherence to online unguided self-help interventions can be increased by additional motivational guidance elements. This is examined by adding three additional components to the intervention: 1) A coach who provides online feedback once a week to provide support. 2) Mobile application to monitor mood and related factors and to receive automated personalized messages, 3) Content based on the principles of motivational interviewing. A secondary aim is to compare the additional effects of the individual components against the additional costs.