Participants and recruitment
depression, mental illness, anxiety
RECRUITMENT
Patients referred to psychological assessment in Swedish primary care are most often individuals with mild to moderate common mental illness, usually related to anxiety, depression, or stress. At both clinics, consecutive patients referred by their general practitioner for psychological assessment within the clinic were assessed for eligibility. At clinic A, patients received information by postal mail about the study and were also given written information at the clinic reception desk before their first appointment with a mental health professional. Following the slow inclusion rate at clinic A, the project was restarted in clinic B where new routines were established to increase the recruitment rate. In clinic B, clinical staff were involved to a larger extent, for example, by telephoning all patients to ensure that they had received the information by postal mail and asking if they had any questions about the study. When patients did not reply, a text message reminder was sent. At clinic B, instead of receiving information at the clinic reception desk, patients were asked by their mental health professional at the first appointment if they had received information about the study. Patients at both clinics could sign their consent to participate at home and send it back in a prepaid envelope, or leave it in a sealed envelope in the reception at the clinic. In order to be included in the study, patients were required to be fluent in Swedish, have access to an electronic device capable of running a modern web browser, and have an electronic ID. In order to obtain a clinically relevant sample with high external validity, no exclusion criteria were applied, such as severe mental illness or an upper age limit. All patients received treatment as usual (TAU), described below.