The non-profit association “Gesundheit und Medizin in Erlangen e.V” (Health and Medicine in Erlangen) awards every year innovative projects that help to improve the health care in Erlangen. Erlangen is the hometown of the Friedrich-Alexander-University, where the German project team conducted the study in cooperation with general practitioners in the metropolitan area Erlangen-Nuremberg. The project took place from 01/01/14 to 06/30/17. This award honors extraordinary performances in the field of health promotion and prevention as well as innovations concerning diagnostic, therapy and public health care.

The German E-COMPARED team – under the lead of Ingrid Titzler and PD Dr. habil David Ebert –received the award in the category medical care at the 20th anniversary of the non-profit association on November the 22nd. Please find the certificate on our website (http://psych1.phil.uni-erlangen.de/forschung/internetbasierte-therapie/urkunde_medizinpreis2017_ecompared.pdf).

The aim of the study was to test and evaluate blended therapy for depression as new and innovative approach to treat depression. This therapy form consists of mobile- and internet-based parts and face-to face sessions based on concepts of the cognitive behavioral therapy. This new approach promises to shorten the long waiting periods for psychotherapy in Germany. Another innovative contribution is the use of a mobile app to integrate mood and activity ratings in the treatment of depression. The new therapy concept provides an effective outpatient treatment for depression (Titzler, Berking, Riper & Ebert, in prep), which is highly accepted by therapists (Titzler et al., 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2018.01.002) and general practitioners (Titzler et al., in prep).

We are very happy and honored by the award!