Tara Donker|Kathleen M Griffiths|Pim Cuijpers|Helen Christensen
Psychoeducation for depression, anxiety and psychological distress: a meta-analysis
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam|Australian National University|Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam|Australian National University
given high prevalence burden associated depression anxiety disorders existence treatment barriers clear need brief inexpensive effective interventions passive psychoeducational interventions published metaanalyses effectiveness passive psychoeducation reducing symptoms depression anxiety psychological distresscochrane psycinfo pubmed databases searched september 2008 additional materials obtained reference lists papers describing passive psychoeducational interventions depression anxiety psychological distress included research design randomized controlled trial incorporated attention placebo intervention waitlist comparison groupin total 9010 abstracts identified five papers described four research studies targeting passive psychoeducation depression psychological distress met inclusion criteria pooled standardizedeffect size four studies four comparisons reduced symptoms depression psychological distress postintervention 020 95 confidence interval 001040 z 204 p 004 number needed treat 9 heterogeneity significant among studies i2 3277 q446 p 022although commonly believed psychoeducation interventions ineffective metaanalysis revealed brief passive psychoeducational interventions depression psychological distress reduce symptoms brief passive psychoeducation interventions easy implement applied immediately expensive may offer firststep intervention experiencing psychological distress depression might serve initial intervention primary care community models findings suggest quality psychoeducation may important