Year: 2011
Type: review
Study designs: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis
Abstract: BACKGROUND: A number of trials have examined the effects of self-guided psychological intervention, without any contact between the participants and a therapist or coach. The results and sizes of these trials have been mixed. This is the first quantitative meta-analysis, aimed at organizing and evaluating the literature, and estimating effect size. METHOD: We conducted systematic literature searches in PubMed, PsycINFO and Embase up to January 2010, and identified additional studies through earlier meta-analyses, and the references of included studies. We identified seven randomized controlled trials that met our inclusion criteria, with a total of 1,362 respondents. The overall quality of the studies was high. A post-hoc power calculation showed that the studies had sufficient statistical power to detect an effect size of d = 0.19. RESULTS: The overall mean effect size indicating the difference between self-guided psychological treatment and control groups at post-test was d = 0.28 (p<0.001), which corresponds to a NNT of 6.41. At 4 to 12 months follow-up the effect size was d = 0.23. There was no indication for significant publication bias. CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence that self-guided psychological treatment has a small but significant effect on participants with increased levels of depressive symptomatology.
Source: PLoS ONE
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,382
OpenAlex ID: W2171936412