Table 7.

Summary description of study on therapy in the reviewed randomized controlled trials of electronic symptom reporting^a

Trial and countryb	Participant characteristicsc	Study characteristicsd	Health service innovation: therapy	Main findings and research targetse
Wagner et al [75]; Switzerland	55 people with complicated grief; 19–68 (mean 37) years; female 93% Patients lived in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland or were native German speakers living elsewhere	Design: P + 2; outside/home Duration: 5 weeks + 3-month follow-up	Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for complicated grief. In Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy, patients were set 2 weekly 45-minute writing assignments over a period of approximately 5 weeks, with therapist and patient communicating exclusively by email. After every second essay, patients received feedback and further instructions from the therapist. Instructions were sent within 1 working day and based on a cognitive behavioral treatment protocol but tailored to the individual patient’s needs. At the beginning of each phase of treatment, patients received psycho-education on the principles of the treatment module. Control group: Waiting list (received treatment 5 weeks after the treatment group termination for ethical reasons).	Several primary outcomes: Participants in the treatment group improved significantly relative to participants in the waiting condition on symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, maladaptive behavior, and general psychopathology, and showed a large treatment effect. Follow-up results show that this improvement was maintained after 3 months. Research target: Health benefits

^a Articles were identified in a comprehensive search in Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and IEEE Xplore from 1990 to November 2011, and were published in the time period 2002–2011.

^b Main author, main reference.

^c Number of clinicians, number of patients with diagnosis, age range (mean) of patients, percentage female patients.

^d Design (P = parallel group design, CO = crossover, C = cluster, F = factorial, O = other, U = unclear; + number of study arms), where symptom reporting took place (outside or in the home; or inside a clinic), and duration of intervention.

^e Main findings are in general presented as in the original article and refer to primary outcome if clearly defined and secondary outcomes considered relevant for the scope of the study. Research targets refers to the six areas of health service quality defined by the Institute of Medicine [43].