Background/Aims Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an empirically supported intervention designed to teach emotion regulation skills for reducing residual depressive symptoms and avoiding relapse triggers that contribute to chronic illness course. MBCT faces common challenges to dissemination, including: service costs, waiting lists, and access. Online treatments address these challenges by increasing treatment accessibility and flexibility, but present other challenges of high dropout rates and decreased engagement. The present study is the first qualitative investigation of patients’ experiences with Mindful Mood Balance (MMB), an 8 week online treatment that features the core elements of in-person MBCT.

Methods Conducted qualitative content analysis on 38 exit interviews with adult patients who participated in MMB. Interviews gathered constructive feedback on website activities and content, program administration, as well as on skills learned and personal insights achieved through participation. Participation required current PHQ-9 score less than or equal to 12 and lifetime history of one or more major depressive episodes.

Results Participants were majority female (71%), white (89.5%), employed (79%), married (73.7%), with a mean age of 46.89. Majority of participants had 3 or more past major depressive episodes (68.4%) and were currently using anti-depressant medications (71%). Codes were organized into four main themes: evidence of concept comprehension, translation of MBCT content, translation of MBCT group process, and home practice. Within these four areas, participants highlighted the advantages and challenges of delivering MBCT in an online environment and endorsed learning and retaining central skills taught.

Conclusions This work will be used to inform programmatic changes to MMB including addition of an online community and alternatives to home practice expectations. Participants endorsed retaining central skills observed previously during in-person delivery of MBCT, and identified several advantages to online delivery including flexibility, reduced cost and time commitment. Overall feedback indicated a high level of participant satisfaction, which is encouraging as MMB could drastically widen the availability of an empirically based depression relapse prevention treatment.