Psychosomatic Rehabilitation Patients and the General Population During COVID-19: Online Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Study of Digital Trainings and Rehabilitation Effects

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has largely affected people’s mental health and psychological well-being. Specifically, individuals with a pre-existing mental health disorder seem more impaired by lockdown measures posing as major stress factors. Medical rehabilitation treatment can help people cope with these stressors. The internet and digital apps provide a platform to contribute to regular treatment and to conduct research on this topic. OBJECTIVE: Making use of internet-based assessments, this study investigated individuals from the general population and patients from medical, psychosomatic rehabilitation clinics. Levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, common COVID-19–related worries, and the intention to use digital apps were compared. Furthermore, we investigated whether participating in internet-delivered digital trainings prior to and during patients’ rehabilitation stay, as well as the perceived usefulness of digital trainings, were associated with improved mental health after rehabilitation. METHODS: A large-scale, online, cross-sectional study was conducted among a study sample taken from the general population (N=1812) in Germany from May 2020 to April 2021. Further, a longitudinal study was conducted making use of the internet among a second study sample of psychosomatic rehabilitation patients at two measurement time points—before (N=1719) and after (n=738) rehabilitation—between July 2020 and April 2021. Validated questionnaires and adapted items were used to assess mental health and COVID-19–related worries. Digital trainings were evaluated. Propensity score matching, multivariate analyses of covariance, an exploratory factor analysis, and hierarchical regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: Patients from the psychosomatic rehabilitation clinics reported increased symptoms with regard to depression, anxiety, loneliness, and stress (F(4,2028)=183.74, P<.001, η(2)(p)=0.27) compared to the general population. Patients perceived greater satisfaction in communication with health care professionals (F(1,837)=31.67, P<.001, η(2)(p)=0.04), had lower financial worries (F(1,837)=38.96, P<.001, η(2)(p)=0.04), but had higher household-related worries (F(1,837)=5.34, P=.02, η(2)(p)=0.01) compared to the general population. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and perceived stress were lower postrehabilitation (F(1,712)=23.21, P<.001, η(2)(p)=0.04) than prior to rehabilitation. Psychosomatic patients reported a higher intention to use common apps and digital trainings (F(3,2021)=51.41, P<.001, η(2)(p)=0.07) than the general population. With regard to digital trainings offered prior to and during the rehabilitation stay, the perceived usefulness of digital trainings on rehabilitation goals was associated with decreased symptoms of depression (β=–.14, P<.001), anxiety (β=–.12, P<.001), loneliness (β=–.18, P<.001), and stress postrehabilitation (β=–.19, P<.001). Participation in digital group therapy for depression was associated with an overall change in depression (F(1,725)=4.82, P=.03, η(2)(p)=0.01) and anxiety (F(1,725)=6.22, P=.01, η(2)(p)=0.01) from pre- to postrehabilitation. CONCLUSIONS: This study validated the increased mental health constraints of psychosomatic rehabilitation patients in comparison to the general population and the effects of rehabilitation treatment. Digital rehabilitation components are promising tools that could prepare patients for their rehabilitation stay, could integrate well with face-to-face therapy during rehabilitation treatment, and could support aftercare. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04453475; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04453475 and ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03855735; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03855735