Curie Brief
Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
News
A multicomponent digital program called eMPower significantly reduced anxiety, depression, and fatigue in adults living with chronic medical conditions, a new PLOS Medicine study found. The self-directed app — featuring movement, breathwork, meditation, and coping skills — worked just as well with or without weekly phone check-ins from nonclinicians. Researchers say the findings point to a scalable, low-cost mental health tool for a growing population managing chronic disease.
Living with a chronic illness is hard on the mind, not just the body — and a new study suggests a digital wellness program can meaningfully help. Researchers enrolled 825 adults with chronic conditions like cirrhosis, heart failure, and post-transplant status across 13 countries and tested eMPower, a self-directed app combining video-guided movement, breathwork, meditation, coping skills, and disease education. After 12 weeks, participants using eMPower showed significant improvements in anxiety, depression, fatigue, and quality of life compared to those receiving usual care.
One surprising finding: adding weekly 15-minute phone check-ins from trained nonclinicians didn't boost outcomes beyond the self-directed version alone — a result the researchers say has big implications for scalability and cost. Fatigue improvements were especially notable, with a 19% relative reduction — meaningful given how debilitating fatigue is for this population.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: Chronic illness patients often lack practical mental health support beyond medication. A single, cross-condition digital program that works without clinician involvement could dramatically expand access to mental health care — especially for the millions living far from specialty services.
