Table 2, Characteristics of Included Systematic Reviews - e-Therapy Interventions for the Treatments of Substance Use Disorders and Other Addictions: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness

First author, Year, Country	Objectives Intervention Comparators Literature Search Strategy	Inclusion Criteria	Exclusion Criteria	Number of Studies Outcomes
Riper,¹⁵ 2014, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Australia	Objectives: “…Internet interventions for curbing adult alcohol misuse have been shown effective. Few meta-analyses have been carried out, however, and they have involved small numbers of studies, lacked indicators of drinking within low risk guidelines, and examined the effectiveness of unguided self-help only. We therefore conducted a more thorough meta-analysis that included both guided and unguided interventions” (p 1) Intervention: web-based interventions based on CBT, MI, trans-theoretical model of change, and PNF. Comparators: no treatment (assessment only, wait list or alcohol information brochure) Literature search strategy: “We conducted literature searches up to September 2013 in the following bibliographic databases: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, CINAHL, PUBMED and EMBASE, using key words and text words” (p 2)	“Randomised controlled trials were included that (1) compared a web-based intervention with a control group (in an assessment only, waitlisted or alcohol information brochure control condition); (2) included a low-intensity self-help intervention that the participant could perform on a computer or mobile phone, with or without guidance from a professional; (3) assessed alcohol drinking behaviour in terms of quantity consumed as a primary outcome measure; (4) studied adults aged 18 or older; (5) included alcohol drinkers who exceeded local guidelines for low-risk drinking” (p 2)	Studies not fulfilling exclusion criteria	16 RCTs (4 RCTs with therapist guidance) Efficacy: Effect size of intervention on level of alcohol consumption at post treatment, using AUDIT or FAST score - Therapist-guided - Pure self-help (findings not reported in this review)
Tait,¹⁶ 2013, Australia, Netherlands, Germany	Objectives:“…the aim of this review and meta-analysis was to assemble evidence on the effectiveness of computer and Internet-based interventions in decreasing the frequency of cannabis use and to provide an estimate of the magnitude of that effect” (p 297) Intervention: computer and internet-based interventions based on CBT, MI Comparators: no treatment (assessment only, wait list) Literature search strategy: “In September, 2012, we searched Medline, PubMed, PsychINFO (1806–2012) and Embase (1980–2012). The search terms were (substance related disorders or addiction, or abuse, or dependence or illicit) and (cannabis or marijuana or marihuana or hashish) and (Internet or web or online or computer or CD ROM) and (prevention or treatment or intervention)” (p 297)	“Studies were included in the metaanalysis if they (1) applied a randomized controlled design, (2) tested the effect of an Internet or computer-delivered intervention (either with or without additional therapeutic guidance) aiming at prevention, indicated prevention or treatment of substance use, (3) reported cannabis use as (one of) the outcome measure(s) and (4) provided usable data to perform the meta-analysis” (p 297)	Studies not fulfilling exclusion criteria	10 RCTs (4 RCTs with therapist guidance) Efficacy: Effect size of intervention on level of cannabis use at post treatment, using different measures of cannabis use. - Therapist-guided - Pure self-help (findings not reported in this review)

First author, Year, Country

Objectives
Intervention
Comparators
Literature Search Strategy

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Number of Studies Outcomes

Riper,¹⁵ 2014, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Australia

Objectives: “…Internet interventions for curbing adult alcohol misuse have been shown effective. Few meta-analyses have been carried out, however, and they have involved small numbers of studies, lacked indicators of drinking within low risk guidelines, and examined the effectiveness of unguided self-help only. We therefore conducted a more thorough meta-analysis that included both guided and unguided interventions” (p 1)

Intervention: web-based interventions based on CBT, MI, trans-theoretical model of change, and PNF.

Comparators: no treatment (assessment only, wait list or alcohol information brochure)

Literature search strategy: “We conducted literature searches up to September 2013 in the following bibliographic databases: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, CINAHL, PUBMED and EMBASE, using key words and text words” (p 2)

“Randomised controlled trials were included that (1) compared a web-based intervention with a control group (in an assessment only, waitlisted or alcohol information brochure control condition); (2) included a low-intensity self-help intervention that the participant could perform on a computer or mobile phone, with or without guidance from a professional; (3) assessed alcohol drinking behaviour in terms of quantity consumed as a primary outcome measure; (4) studied adults aged 18 or older; (5) included alcohol drinkers who exceeded local guidelines for low-risk drinking” (p 2)

Studies not fulfilling exclusion criteria

16 RCTs (4 RCTs with therapist guidance)

Efficacy:
Effect size of intervention on level of alcohol consumption at post treatment, using AUDIT or FAST score

-: Therapist-guided
-: Pure self-help (findings not reported in this review)

Tait,¹⁶ 2013, Australia, Netherlands, Germany

Objectives:“…the aim of this review and meta-analysis was to assemble evidence on the effectiveness of computer and Internet-based interventions in decreasing the frequency of cannabis use and to provide an estimate of the magnitude of that effect” (p 297)

Intervention: computer and internet-based interventions based on CBT, MI

Comparators: no treatment (assessment only, wait list)

Literature search strategy: “In September, 2012, we searched Medline, PubMed, PsychINFO (1806–2012) and Embase (1980–2012). The search terms were (substance related disorders or addiction, or abuse, or dependence or illicit) and (cannabis or marijuana or marihuana or hashish) and (Internet or web or online or computer or CD ROM) and (prevention or treatment or intervention)” (p 297)

“Studies were included in the metaanalysis if they (1) applied a randomized controlled design, (2) tested the effect of an Internet or computer-delivered intervention (either with or without additional therapeutic guidance) aiming at prevention, indicated prevention or treatment of substance use, (3) reported cannabis use as (one of) the outcome measure(s) and (4) provided usable data to perform the meta-analysis” (p 297)

Studies not fulfilling exclusion criteria

10 RCTs (4 RCTs with therapist guidance)

Efficacy:
Effect size of intervention on level of cannabis use at post treatment, using different measures of cannabis use.

-: Therapist-guided
-: Pure self-help (findings not reported in this review)

From: e-Therapy Interventions for the Treatments of Substance Use Disorders and Other Addictions: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness

Cover of e-Therapy Interventions for the Treatments of Substance Use Disorders and Other Addictions: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness

e-Therapy Interventions for the Treatments of Substance Use Disorders and Other Addictions: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness [Internet].

Ho C, Severn M.

Ottawa (ON): Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; 2018 Jun 27.

The copyright and other intellectual property rights in this document are owned by CADTH and its licensors. These rights are protected by the Canadian Copyright Act and other national and international laws and agreements. Users are permitted to make copies of this document for non-commercial purposes only, provided it is not modified when reproduced and appropriate credit is given to CADTH and its licensors.

Except where otherwise noted, this work is distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND), a copy of which is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Table 2Characteristics of Included Systematic Reviews