Patient partners and an eMPower team member strike a yoga pose to celebrate the completion of the 825-participant trial. Credit: Puneeta Tandon (CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
A digital program combining guided movement, breathing and meditation exercises, and coping-skills training reduced anxiety and depression symptoms in adults with chronic medical conditions, according to a new study published Aug. 20 in the journal PLOS Medicine by Puneeta Tandon of the University of Alberta, Canada, and colleagues.
More than half of adults living with chronic physical conditions experience anxiety, depression or fatigue, which can significantly reduce quality of life. Access to effective symptom management support is limited by mobility barriers, geography, cost and shortages of trained clinicians. Digital programs may offer a scalable way to address this burden, but clinical trial evidence backing these interventions has been limited, and the role of human support in their efficacy is unclear.
A remote test across 13 countries
Researchers conducted a fully remote, three-arm randomized controlled trial across 13 countries involving 825 adults with self-reported chronic medical conditions, including primary biliary cholangitis, chronic digestive diseases, cirrhosis and heart failure.
