Assessing health literacy and its impacts among people accessing unguided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy for depression and anxiety: a treatment-seeking cohort study

Fisher, A; Bisby, M; Hathway, T; Rezwan, A; Ayre, J; Muscat, D; Titov, N; Dear, B

Assessing health literacy and its impacts among people accessing unguided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy for depression and anxiety: a treatment-seeking cohort study

Fisher, A Bisby, M Hathway, T Rezwan, A Ayre, J

Muscat, D Titov, N Dear, B

Permalink

Publisher:: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: ADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH

Open Access

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Open Access

This item is open access.

Adobe PDF

Download Published versionAdobe PDF (957.39 kB)

View on publisher's site

View statistics

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Fisher, A
dc.contributor.author	Bisby, M
dc.contributor.author	Hathway, T
dc.contributor.author	Rezwan, A
dc.contributor.author	Ayre, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5279-5189
dc.contributor.author	Muscat, D
dc.contributor.author	Titov, N
dc.contributor.author	Dear, B
dc.date.accessioned	2025-08-18T22:13:44Z
dc.date.available	2025-08-18T22:13:44Z
dc.identifier.citation	ADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH
dc.identifier.issn	1838-7357
dc.identifier.issn	1837-4905
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/189464
dc.description.abstract	This study examined the health literacy of individuals accessing unguided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT) for depression and/or anxiety, and its association with sociodemographics, clinical characteristics, and treatment outcomes. Adults (N = 570) in an unguided iCBT trial completed measures of sociodemographics, past/concurrent mental health treatment use, quality-of-care, depression and anxiety symptoms, and health literacy across the nine Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) domains. Higher average scores were observed for HLQ domains 'Appraisal of health information' and 'Understand health information well enough to know what to do next' with lower scores in 'Ability to actively engage with healthcare providers' and 'Navigating the healthcare system'. Lower scores on one or more HLQ domains were associated with younger age, female gender, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, speaking a main language other than English, higher baseline depression and anxiety symptoms, use of crisis and emergency services, non-contact with general practitioners or other health professionals, and poorer quality-of-care (ps > 0.025). Individuals with diverse health literacy strengths and challenges appear to access and benefit from unguided iCBT, though research is needed to characterise health literacy and its impacts in related settings.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
dc.relation.ispartof	ADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1080/18387357.2025.2536801
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1103 Clinical Sciences, 1117 Public Health and Health Services, 1701 Psychology
dc.subject.classification	5201 Applied and developmental psychology
dc.subject.classification	5203 Clinical and health psychology
dc.title	Assessing health literacy and its impacts among people accessing unguided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy for depression and anxiety: a treatment-seeking cohort study
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1103 Clinical Sciences
utslib.for	1117 Public Health and Health Services
utslib.for	1701 Psychology
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2025-08-18T22:13:43Z
pubs.publication-status	Published online

Abstract:

This study examined the health literacy of individuals accessing unguided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT) for depression and/or anxiety, and its association with sociodemographics, clinical characteristics, and treatment outcomes. Adults (N = 570) in an unguided iCBT trial completed measures of sociodemographics, past/concurrent mental health treatment use, quality-of-care, depression and anxiety symptoms, and health literacy across the nine Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) domains. Higher average scores were observed for HLQ domains 'Appraisal of health information' and 'Understand health information well enough to know what to do next' with lower scores in 'Ability to actively engage with healthcare providers' and 'Navigating the healthcare system'. Lower scores on one or more HLQ domains were associated with younger age, female gender, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, speaking a main language other than English, higher baseline depression and anxiety symptoms, use of crisis and emergency services, non-contact with general practitioners or other health professionals, and poorer quality-of-care (ps > 0.025). Individuals with diverse health literacy strengths and challenges appear to access and benefit from unguided iCBT, though research is needed to characterise health literacy and its impacts in related settings.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/189464