{
  "abstract": "Background: Digital mental health platforms routinely deliver self-administered symptom scales on the assumption that users with more severe symptoms are more likely to enter professional care. That assumption is rarely tested with linked participant-level data, and almost never in the Arabic-speaking Gulf.\n\nObjective: To examine whether symptom severity at a user’s first self-assessment predicts booking a professional session within 90 days, across four symptom domains, on a Saudi commercial digital mental health platform.\n\nMethods: Retrospective cohort analysis of 10,100 first assessments — depression, generalized anxiety, panic, and obsessive-compulsive scales — contributed by 5,524 unique users of the Talbinah platform and linked to demographic and session-booking records through a pseudonymous (SHA-256 hashed) user identifier. The primary outcome was any session booked within 90 days after the assessment. Severity was banded by the established cut-offs for the PHQ-9 and GAD-7, and by percentage of scale maximum for the panic and obsessive-compulsive measures, for which no severity thresholds are established. Per-scale multivariable logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for severity band (reference None/Minimal), adjusting for age, sex, and device type. Pre-specified sensitivity analyses used 30- and 180-day windows, an attended-session outcome, percentage-of-maximum banding applied to all four scales, and a subset with no prior booking (incident help-seeking). Reporting followed STROBE.\n\nResults: Users were young (mean age 26.7 years, SD 8.1) and predominantly female (78.1%); 16.6% of first assessments were followed by a booking within 90 days. No severity band on any of the four scales was associated with higher odds of booking (severe vs None/Minimal: depression aOR 0.71, 95% CI 0.51–1.01; generalized anxiety 0.76, 0.49–1.16; panic 0.83, 0.52–1.31; obsessive-compulsive 1.01, 0.59–1.74). One severity contrast was statistically significant, in the opposite direction: moderate depression was associated with lower odds of booking (0.66, 95% CI 0.45–0.97). Older age (aOR ~1.2 per decade) and iOS device use (1.4–2.0) were associated with booking across scales. This absence of a positive severity–booking association was consistent across 30-, 90-, and 180-day windows, the attended-session outcome, and percentage-of-maximum banding; a nominal association for moderate anxiety seen under percentage banding did not persist with validated GAD-7 cut-offs. Estimates for the panic and obsessive-compulsive scales, which lack established severity thresholds, are exploratory.\n\nConclusions: On a Saudi digital mental health platform, greater self-reported symptom severity at first assessment was not followed by higher subsequent booking of professional care, consistently across specifications, and for moderate depression was associated with lower odds of booking; demographic and access-related attributes showed stronger associations with booking than symptom load did. Self-screening on its own appears insufficient as a pathway into care.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Qassim University"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Abdulmajeed A. Alkhamees"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4wb3na739ef4a.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1928345",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "4wb3na739ef4a",
  "issns": [
    "1664-0640"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1928345/full",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3202|Digital Mental Health Interventions"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223969365",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1928345/pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-27",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4wb3na739ef4a.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:18Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1928345",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1928345/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "issn:1664-0640",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Symptom severity at first digital self-assessment is not associated with greater subsequent booking of professional care on a Saudi mental health platform: a cohort study of 5,524 users",
  "title_text": "Symptom severity at first digital self-assessment is not associated with greater subsequent booking of professional care on a Saudi mental health platform: a cohort study of 5,524 users",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:18Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4wb3na739ef4a",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Psychiatry",
  "versions": []
}