iCCBT, an Interactive Approach of CBT for Online Psychological Intervention

Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CCBT) has been widely proven effective in alleviating negative emotions such as depression and anxiety. To address the lack of real-time feedback, we explored how to add appropriate interactions from the user experience perspective. By analyzing user context, we propose a transformation framework from CBT to interactive CCBT (iCCBT), which makes online interventions more effective. According to the framework, we designed and implemented an iCCBT platform for young adults. Through a 9-day controlled experiment on 28 college students, we conclude that interaction can effectively improve users’ knowledge retention, learning efficiency, satisfaction, and willingness to use. This study demonstrates methods and results for enhancing the interactivity of CCBT. The design thinking of the transformation framework can be extended to other online psychotherapy.