Aetna recently offered myStrength to employees of a large customer in a pilot study designed to explore the capabilities of a digital program to help employees who are suffering from depression, anxiety or substance use. The results confirmed that myStrength is a potent tool for engaging users and amplifying mental health and wellbeing. “We found that this approach worked particularly well because people could engage privately when they needed to, yet could also choose to join a community of others facing similar struggles when they wanted to,” explained Dr. Hyong Un, Aetna’s chief psychiatric officer.
Major findings
- Employees who used myStrength had reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms three times greater than the control group.
- myStrength participants demonstrated remarkably high engagement, with 93 percent of people in this group regularly accessing program materials. myStrength engagement was 20 percentage points higher than the control group.
- myStrength participants saw a 55% reduction in depression scores – significantly greater than the 22% reduction in the control group. The myStrength group showed similarly significant reductions in anxiety levels compared to the control group.