A randomized controlled trial of Internet-delivered guided and unguided cognitive behaviour therapy for treating depression and anxiety in UK university students: study protocol for the Nurture-U Internet CBT trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tackling poor mental health in university students is a priority in higher education. Although major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder are highly prevalent among university students and predict impaired university and later life outcomes, most students do not receive evidence-based treatment. Internet-delivered cognitive-behavioural therapy (iCBT) is increasingly offered to UK university students in guided or unguided formats. Our aim is to compare the effects of guided versus unguided scalable iCBT for university students with elevated symptoms of depression and/or anxiety and to investigate the feasibility of creating individual treatment rules (ITR) to predict for whom which variant of iCBT is more effective as well as for whom neither is effective.

SUBMITTER: Watkins ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12465736 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature