Digital interventions for reducing the symptoms of depression in low- and middle-income countries: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Study design: Study Protocol
Abstract: Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders with an estimated prevalence of 5% in the global population (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023). Despite its severe consequences on both individuals and societies, people residing in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) face important difficulties in accessing mental health treatment. This can be attributed to the limited availability of trained professionals, fear of stigmatisation and barriers to identifying depressive symptoms, among others (Javed et al., 2021; Patel et al., 2018; Saxena et al., 2007). In the past years, digital interventions have proven to provide a great alternative to traditional psychotherapy, and have the potential to address the gap between treatments supply and demand. Their affordability, anonymity, and remote access are some of the many advantages which allow for an effective asynchronous treatment approach (Lattie et al., 2022; Naslund et al., 2021). Several studies have demonstrated promising results for both self-guided and guided internet-based interventions in reducing symptoms of depression in low and middle-income countries when compared to control groups (Carter et al., 2021; Karyotaki et al., 2023). However, to date, there is a limited number of studies conducted in such settings (Jiménez-Molina et al., 2019) and a lack of understanding of potential moderators of intervention outcomes. Individual participant data meta-analyses (IPDMAs) enable the synthesis of individual participant data from multiple trials, thus increasing the power and improving the accuracy of effect size estimates while providing robust evidence for factors that may influence intervention outcomes (Costa & Lopes, 2024). This is a crucial step to improve the precision of depression treatment and mental health care recommendations in such settings, therefore establishing the effectiveness of treatment and facilitating the implementation of individually tailored mental health care services.
Source: OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7170113431