The following lists contains information on all tables of the database, their attributes, and the coding variables that were used. The are categorized into the four larger clusters: systems, evaluations, publications, and linking tables.
Systems cluster
System: provides information on the system including the name of the system and who created the system where.
SystemKey: unique identifier for each system
SystemName: name given to system by authors or [name of first author] + [Unnamed]
SystemCreators: company name or [name of first author] + [city of affiliation of first author]
Version: systems can have multiple versions as they evolve, get tailored to a new target group, or different research teams work on them. This table provides detailed information on the versions of systems, when they were made, who made them, which evidence-based therapeutic intervention class they are based on, what main technologies they employ, whether they target a comorbidity as well, whether they integrate human support, how many intervention modules they have (as stated by the authors), what their intended duration is, and what their purpose is.
SystemKey: links version to systems
VersionKey: unique identifier for each version
Name: name given to a version by authors or [name of first author] + [Unnamed]
BuildYear: the year when a version was presumably built (usually the year the first RCT that can be found on system was started or the year of the earliest publication on the system, including study protocols, if no clear information could be found, the submission date of the earliest publication on this version was used.)
Provider: if a company developed the version, the name of the company is given here, otherwise the first author and affiliation of first author on the publication describing this version.
TherapyType: the therapy intervention class underlying intervention modules as stated by the authors in the publication.
SCT=Social Cognitive Theory
MI=Motivational Interviewing
MCT=Metacognitive Therapy
PP=Positive Psychology
MFN=Mindfulness
IPT=Interpersonal Therapy
BA=Behavioral Activation
ACT=Acceptance and Commitment
SR=Stress Reduction/Management
PD=Psychodynamic
CR=Cognitive Remediation
PhE=Physical Exercise
ET=Exposure Therapy
SM=Symptom Monitoring
TD=Transdiagnostic
EW=Expressive Writing
LR=Life Review
CBM=Cognitive Bias Modification
PE=Psychoeducation
CCT=Cognitive Control Training
HT=Horticulture Therapy
Technology: Which technology does the version predominantly employ (a more detailed listing can be found in the VersionFunctions table, where the technology is indicated for each function).
1=telephone
2=text message
3=mobile (cross-platform websites that can be accessed from mobile devices
4=app
5=CD
6=DVD
7=Computer (software that is installed on the computer rather than running online)
Comorbidity: What kind of comorbidity does the version target if any.
0=none
1=addiction
2=physical illness (e.g. cancer, diabetes)
3=anxiety
4=insomnia
5=non-specific
SupportType: What kind of human support is integrated into the version if any.
0=none
1=lay-person
2=administrative
3=professional (other than therapist, e.g. nurse, coach)
4=therapist
5=blended/adjunct (versions that are intended as an adjunct to face-to-face therapy; for the purposes of this categorization, categories 5 and 4 are disjunct)
InterventionModules: number of intervention modules that a version has (as indicated by the authors).
Duration: the intended usage duration of the version in weeks, i.e. how many weeks should users be busy with the version
Purpose: the goal of the version in terms of depression related outcomes.
0=prevent depression
1=treat depression
2=provide post-treatment support
Function: the functions that a version can possibly have (in total 184 possible functions), these are subdivided into intervention functions and support functions, whereby support functions are again subdivided into planning, execution, monitoring, and social (see description above).
FunctionKey: unique identifier for each function
Functionality: a brief description of the functionality that a function provides
Therapy: this is only relevant for intervention functions which can be linked to a specific therapeutic intervention class. Codes were assigned in collaboration with a final year clinical psychology Master student from the VU Amsterdam.
1=cognitive behavioral therapy
2=cognitive therapy
3=behavioral activation
4=motivational interviewing
5=cognitive bias modification
6=problem solving
7=acceptance and commitment therapy
9=psychoeducation
10=positive psychology
11=mindfulness
12=physical activity
13=interpersonal therapy
14=psychodynamic psychotherapy
15=emotional freedom technique
16=life review
17=expressive writing
19=integrative/multiple (in case an intervention component could not be linked clearly to a framework)
20=schema therapy
21=meta-cognitive
22=social cognitive theory
23=cognitive control training
24=hypnosis
FunctionType: functions are classified into two categories (intervention and support functions). Support functions again can be of four different types, yielding in total five function subtypes codes.
INT=intervention
SUPP=Support
FunctionSubType: functions are classified into two categories (intervention and support functions). Support functions again can be of four different types, yielding in total five function subtypes codes.
INT=intervention
PLAN=planning support
EXEC=execution support
MONITOR=monitoring support
SOC=social support
FunctionSubSubType: intervention subtypes have associated therapies and those are again categorized into higher level therapies. Similarly, the low-level support functions are again categorized into support function subsubtypes.
BEH=(intervention) Behavioral Therapy
CBT=(intervention) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
COG=(intervention) Cognitive Therapy
INDEP=(intervention) Techniques independent of a specific therapeutic intervention class
IP=(intervention) Interpersonal Therapy
OTH=(intervention) Other, i.e. do not fit anywhere
PD=(intervention) Psychodynamic Therapy
PP=(intervention) Positivie Psychology
Customization= (execution) User preferences (intervention/system) during intervention
Direct - NonProf= (social) Peer support, Administrative support, Lay-person support
Direct - Prof= (social) Nurse support, Professional support, Therapist support
Indirect= (social) Social learning/comparison/facilitation, Recognition, Cooperation
VersionFunction: lists all the functions that a specific version has, i.e. function instantiations. The table links versions and functions, hence VersionKey and FunctionKey together are the primary keys of this table.
VersionKey: links versions to functions.
FunctionKey: identifies the function.
Format: the technological means used for the delivery of the specific function. Similar to the Technology attribute in the Version table, but then at the level of the specific function.
1=telephone
2=text message
3=mobile (cross-platform websites that can be accessed from mobile devices
4=app
5=CD
6=DVD
7=Computer (software that is installed on the computer rather than running online)
Description: text copied from publication describing the specific function instantiation. This can contain some additional information and it is therefore important to look at this in combination with the Functionality and FunctionType of the component.
eHDTS: e-mental health degree of technological sophistication rating assigned to each instantiation according to the FunctionType-specific scale. The five scales with the concrete level definitions and an example function instantiation for each level can be found in the "eHDTS" tab.
0=function is part of system but not integrated, e.g. delivered by a human
1=function is integrated in a purely informative manner, the system provides information but does not allow for interactivity with the user
2=the function is provided with basic interactivity, but the system does not process the information provided by the user
3=the function is provided interactively, the system processes meta-data (e.g. interaction duration, number of clicks)
4=the function is provided interactively, the system processes content of user input
eHDTSReasoning: in cases when the description may not provide sufficient information to justify the assignment of a specific degree of technological sophistication, this attribute is used to provide additional information also taken from the publication.
Evaluations cluster
Evaluation: specifies details about the studies and trials in which a version was used.
EvaluationKey: unique identifier of the evaluation.
Quality: a measure of the quality of the evaluation.
0=not controlled and not randomized (single group or multiple groups)
1=not controlled but randomized (comparative trial)
2=controlled but not randomized
3=randomized controlled
Recruitment: information copied from the publication describing how participants were recruited for the evaluation.
Details: more specific information about the intervention, i.e. specific types of control groups being used or whether the trial was comparative (i.e. comparing the same system but different versions or different systems to each other)
MeasurementTPs: what were the measurement time points of the evaluation?
0=pre-post
1=pre-post-followup
2=post only
3=other
Control: specifies the types of control groups used.
0=no control
1=waitlist
2=TAU/other known to be effective treatment
3=placebo/attention control
Participants: were participants recruited from a population with specific characteristics? Semicolon means OR, comma means AND (e.g. the line "(1;6),21" decodes to: employees with clinical or subclinical depression). This is a very specific category, intended to facilitate the search for evaluations with very specific type of population.
1=clinically depressed
2=veterans/military
3=elderly
4=youth (often high-school or undergraduate students)
5=comorbid
6=subclinically depressed
7=recruited from group therapy
8=only of a specific gender
9=suicidal
10=teachers
11=in palliative care
12=bereaved
13=caregivers
14=anxious
15=experts
16=socially phobic
17=with panic disorders
18=having a specific cultural background
19=remitted depression
20=anyone
21=employees
22=healthy
23=physical illness
24=family history of depression
25=insomnia
26=addiction
27=treated medically for depression
28=emotional disorder
29=burnout
Result: simplified coding of the outcome of the evaluation.
0=no effect (including no time effect)
1=intervention*time effect (desirable outcome in RCT with non-effective control group)
3=time effect (desirable in case of non-controlled trials or if control group receives effective treatment)
4=usability effect (outcome indicating user satisfaction with intervention)
5=other
ResultDescription: in words a very brief summary of the result.
Arm: details concerning each study arm of an evaluation.
EvaluationKey: links arms/conditions to the evaluation.
ArmKey: unique identifier for the arm of each evaluation.
ArmType: which kind of control condition was used if any?
0=control arm
{1...n}=VersionKey of version used in intervention arm
ArmSpec: specifies the type of intervention arm or control arm.
1=intervention: only intervention
2=intervention: intervention combined with TAU
3=control: waitlist
4=control: TAU/other known to be effective treatment
5=control: placebo/attention control
6=control: placebo + TAU
7=control: other possibly effective activity (discussion forum, support group, etc.) or effective treatment for another condition (e.g. TAU for cancer, diabetes, insomnia)
8=control: same treatment as intervention group but different format
Description: textual brief description of the arm.
N-pre: number of participants in this arm pre intervention.
N-post: number of participants in this arm post-intervention (i.e. at the post-measurement time point. We did not record the number of participants at follow-up timepoints).
UserType: specifies the type of patient group used. We regard here users of the systems also as patients. In cases when the study was conducted on healthy individuals (preventive systems), control group users not exposed to an intervention (placebo, waitlist) are indicated as no patients.
0=outpatients (individuals not in stationary treatment)
1=inpatients (individuals in stationary treatment)
2=mixed (outpatients or inpatients)
3=no patients (control group participants in studies using a healthy population)
4=unknown (control group participants of studies in which no restrictions were placed on recruited population, e.g. any unemployed male was recruited, i.e. they could also be inpatients or outpatients.)
UserPop: in case a sample was recruited from a very specific group of people (e.g. undergraduate students, Arabs, elderly), this is stated here in text. It can provide additional information to the Participants attribute in the Evaluation table.
Measure: list of possible outcome measures.
MeasureKey: unique identifier for the outcome measure.
MeasureName: name of the outcome measure (e.g. BDI for Beck Depression Inventory).
EvaluationMeasure: links the evaluation to an outcome measure.
EvaluationKey: unique identifier for the outcome measure.
MeasureKey: links the evaluation key to the outcome measure.
TimePoint: time point of the post measurement (followup time points are not coded, as they are reported with regard to different reference points in the literature, e.g. sometimes they will be reported as 3-month follow-up meaning 3 months after the post measurement and other times 3 months after baseline. Since this could not be clearly identified in all publications, we refrain from including the data in this database.)
Outcome: whether outcome measure was a primary or a secondary outcome of the evaluation.
InfoAt: where in the publication (see EvaluationPaper table) the results can be found, to facilitate searching for information to calculate effect sizes in the publications.
Publications cluster
Paper: details on the publications describing systems or evaluations. This table also contains those publications excluded at the full-paper stage as some of them are study protocols for the primary research and can hence provide additional information. Furthermore, for excluded papers, a reason for exclusion is provided.
PaperKey: unique identifier for the publication.
Year: the year in which the paper was published.
Title: the title of the publication.
Journal: the name of the journal in which the paper was published.
Abstract: the full abstract of the paper.
Keywords: keywords assigned by authors and publishers to the publication.
Database: which database the record was retrieved from.
1=PubMed
2=Scopus
3=Web of Knowledge/Science
4=Additional sources (other syntheses, other articles, personal reference)
Author: identifies all authors of publications.
AuthorKey: unique identifier for the author.
LastName: full last name of the author.
Initials: initials of author first and middle names.
Contact: contact e-mail address provided in the publication of which this author is the corresponding author and that was included in the database (i.e. not excluded at the full-paper stage).
PaperKey_Corresponding: the PaperKey(s) of the publication(s) for which this author is the corresponding author. This was only noted for papers included in the database (i.e. not excluded at the full-paper stage). Multiple keys are separated by commas.
PaperAuthor: links authors to their publications.
PaperKey: unique identifier for the paper.
AuthorKey: links the specific author from the Author table to a specific publication from the Paper table.
Linking tables
VersionEvaluation: links versions to the studies in which they were evaluated.
VersionKey: unique identifier for the version.
EvaluationKey: links the version to the study in which it was evaluated.
ConditionKey: identifies the arm of the study in which the particular version was evaluated.
VersionPaper: links versions to the publications in which they are described. It must be noted here that some of the function instantiation descriptions are not directly from these publications but from the study protocols or from the publications of other versions of the same system. For function instantiation descriptions, we looked for the publication with the most detail provided in describing the functionality of a version.
VersionKey: unique identifier for the version.
PaperKey: links the version to the publication in which it is described.
EvaluationPaper: links evaluations to the publications in which they are described.
EvaluationKey: unique identifier for the evaluation.
PaperKey: links the evaluation to the publication in which it is described.