Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2009 Dec 16:7:79.
doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-7-79.

Psychoeducation for depression, anxiety and psychological distress: a meta-analysis

Tara Donker  1 , Kathleen M Griffiths, Pim Cuijpers, Helen Christensen
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Psychoeducation for depression, anxiety and psychological distress: a meta-analysis

Tara Donker et al. BMC Med. .

Abstract

Background: Given the high prevalence and burden associated with depression and anxiety disorders and the existence of treatment barriers, there is a clear need for brief, inexpensive and effective interventions such as passive psychoeducational interventions. There are no published meta-analyses of the effectiveness of passive psychoeducation in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety or psychological distress.

Methods: Cochrane, PsycInfo and PubMed databases were searched in September 2008. Additional materials were obtained from reference lists. Papers describing passive psychoeducational interventions for depression, anxiety and psychological distress were included if the research design was a randomized controlled trial and incorporated an attention placebo, no intervention or waitlist comparison group.

Results: In total, 9010 abstracts were identified. Of these, five papers which described four research studies targeting passive psychoeducation for depression and psychological distress met the inclusion criteria. The pooled standardized-effect size (four studies, four comparisons) for reduced symptoms of depression and psychological distress at post-intervention was d = 0.20 (95% confidence interval: 0.01-0.40; Z = 2.04; P = 0.04; the number needed to treat: 9). Heterogeneity was not significant among the studies (I2 = 32.77, Q:4.46; P = 0.22).

Conclusions: Although it is commonly believed that psychoeducation interventions are ineffective, this meta-analysis revealed that brief passive psychoeducational interventions for depression and psychological distress can reduce symptoms. Brief passive psychoeducation interventions are easy to implement, can be applied immediately and are not expensive. They may offer a first-step intervention for those experiencing psychological distress or depression and might serve as an initial intervention in primary care or community models. The findings suggest that the quality of psychoeducation may be important.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram for passive psychoeducation for depression, anxiety and psychological distress.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Standardized effect sizes of passive psychoeducation for depression and psychological distress at post-test.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Howland RH, Thase ME. Comorbid depression and anxiety. When and how to treat. J Psychiatry. 2005;11:891–1047.
    1. Cuijpers P, de Graaf R, van Dorsselaer S. Minor depression: risk profiles, functional disability, health care use and risk of developing major depression. J Affect Disord. 2004;79:71–79. doi: 10.1016/S0165-0327(02)00348-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cuijpers P, Smit F, Oostenbrink J, de Graaf R, Ten Have M, Beekman A. Economic costs of minor depression: a population-based study. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2007;115:229–236. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00851.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hoffman EJ, Mathew SJ. Anxiety disorders: a comprehensive review of pharmacotherapies. Mt Sinai J Med. 2008;75:248–262. doi: 10.1002/msj.20041. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hunot V, Churchill R, Silva de Lima M, Teixeira V. Psychological therapies for generalised anxiety disorder. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007. p. CD001848. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types