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. 2023 Oct-Dec;23(4):100379.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100379. Epub 2023 Mar 5.

Symptoms of emotional disorders and sociodemographic factors as moderators of dropout in psychological treatment: A meta-review

María Carpallo-González  1 , Roger Muñoz-Navarro  1 , César González-Blanch  2 , Antonio Cano-Vindel  3
Affiliations

Symptoms of emotional disorders and sociodemographic factors as moderators of dropout in psychological treatment: A meta-review

María Carpallo-González et al. Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2023 Oct-Dec.

Abstract

Objective: Dropout from psychological treatment is an important problem that substantially limits treatment effectiveness. A better understanding of this phenomenon, could help to minimize it. Therefore, we performed a systematic review of meta-analyses (MA) on dropout from psychological treatments to (1) determine the estimated overall dropout rate (DR) and (2) to examine potential predictors of dropout, including clinical symptoms (anxiety and depression) and sociodemographic factors.

Method: A literature search of the PubMed PsycINFO, Embase, Scopus and Google Scholar databases was conducted. We identified 196 MAs on dropout from psychological treatment carried out primarily in adult patients or mixed samples (adults and children) between 1990 and 2022. Of these, 12 met all inclusion criteria. Two forest plots were created to visualize the DR and the relationship between DR and the disorder.

Results: The DR ranged from 15.9% to 46.8% and was significantly moderated by symptoms of emotional disorders. The highest DR were observed in younger, unmarried patients, and those with lower educational and income levels.

Conclusions: DR in patients undergoing psychological treatment is highly heterogeneous, but higher in individuals presenting symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, especially the latter. Given that high DR undermine the effectiveness of psychological interventions, it is clear that greater efforts are needed to reduce dropout, particularly among individuals with symptoms of emotional disorders.

Keywords: Dropout; Emotional disorders; Moderators; Psychological treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare to have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of the search and study selection strategy for this meta-review
Fig 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot with general estimates of dropout rates.
Fig 3
Fig. 3
Forest plot with specific estimates of dropout rates disaggregated by disorder
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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