Trial reportScientific reports2024
Efficacy of an Internet-based self-help intervention with human guidance or automated messages to alleviate loneliness: a three-armed randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04655196 (A Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of Two Internet-based Self-help Interventions for Loneliness.), which is not on this map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of Two Internet-based Self-help Interventions for Loneliness.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- [Internet-based self-help for loneliness-a systematic review].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2024Pooled it
- Loneliness is correlated with cancer mortality in US counties: an ecological analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Emotion regulation and social information processing as targets of a guided selective prevention app for emerging adults with a history of adverse childhood experiences: A randomised controlled trial.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Barriers and Facilitators Affecting the Care of Patients with Endometriosis: A Scoping Review.Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde · 2026Article
- Study Protocol: Connecting older adults through multi-level programmes for alleviating loneliness in Hong Kong older adults (COMPASS-HOA).Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Longitudinal trajectories of social isolation and loneliness across the lifespan during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A Digital Psychosocial Service (Sui App) for Arabic-Speaking Refugees in Switzerland: Development and Cultural-Contextual Adaptation Using a User-Centered and Participatory Approach.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Digital bridges to social connection: A systematic review and meta-analysis of digital interventions for loneliness and social isolation.Internet interventions · 2025Review
- Article
- Loneliness and its associated factors in older Australians residing in retirement living communities: a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Evidence-based health messages increase intention to cope with loneliness in Germany: a randomized controlled online trial.NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- Predictors and moderators of outcome of ICBT for loneliness with guidance or automated messages - A secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.Internet interventions · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Loneliness is a prevalent and stigmatized phenomenon associated with adverse (mental) health outcomes. However, evidence-based interventions to alleviate loneliness are scarce. This randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov-ID: NCT04655196) evaluated the efficacy of an internet-based cognitive behavioral self-help intervention (ICBT) to reduce loneliness by comparing two intervention groups with guidance or automated messages against a waitlist control group. Adults (N = 243) suffering from loneliness were recruited from the general public and then randomly assigned (2:2:1) to a 10-week ICBT with human guidance (GU) or automated messages (AM) or to a waitlist control group (WL). Loneliness, assessed with the UCLA-9, was the primary outcome. Outcomes were assessed at baseline and 10 weeks (post) and analyzed using mixed-effects models. The pooled intervention conditions resulted in lower loneliness scores at post-assessment than the WL (Cohen's d = 0.57, 95% CI [0.25; 0.89]) and reduced depressive symptoms, social anxiety, social avoidance behavior, and rejection sensitivity (d = 0.32-0.52). The GU group had lower loneliness scores at post-assessment than the AM group (d = 0.42, 95% CI [0.13; 0.70]). ICBT effectively alleviated loneliness, and guidance increased the reduction in loneliness compared to automated messages. Alleviating loneliness with ICBT further seems to reduce the overall burden of psychopathological symptoms.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.