Objective: The aim of this study was to assess whether systematic reviews investigating psychotherapeutic interventions for depression are affected by publication bias. Only homogeneous data sets were included, as heterogeneous data sets can distort statistical tests of publication bias. Method: We applied Begg and Mazumdar's adjusted rank…

Objective: Many patients drop out of treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); some clinicians believe that trauma-focused treatments increase dropout. Method: We conducted a meta-analysis of dropout among active treatments in clinical trials for PTSD (42 studies; 17 direct comparisons). Results: The average dropout rate was 18%, but it…

Objective: Premature discontinuation from therapy is a widespread problem that impedes the delivery of otherwise effective psychological interventions. The most recent comprehensive review found an average dropout rate of 47% across 125 studies (Wierzbicki & Pekarik, 1993); however, given a number of changes in the field over the past 2 decades,…

Objective: Rates of nonattendance for psychotherapy hinder the effective delivery of evidence-based treatments. Although many strategies have been developed to increase attendance, the effectiveness of these strategies has not been quantified. Our aim in the present study was to undertake a meta-analysis of rigorously controlled studies to…

Objective: This study was designed to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI) interventions for adolescent substance use behavior change. Method: Literature searches of electronic databases were undertaken in addition to manual reference searches of identified review articles. Databases searched include…

Objective: Although mindfulness-based therapy has become a popular treatment, little is known about its efficacy. Therefore, our objective was to conduct an effect size analysis of this popular intervention for anxiety and mood symptoms in clinical samples. Method: We conducted a literature search using PubMed, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, and…

Objective: Motivational interviewing (MI) is a treatment approach that has been widely examined as an intervention for tobacco dependence and is recommended in clinical practice guidelines. Previous reviews evaluating the efficacy of MI for smoking cessation noted effects that were modest in magnitude but included few studies. The current study is…

Objective: Outcome research has documented worsening among a minority of the patient population (5% to 10%). In this study, we conducted a meta-analytic and mega-analytic review of a psychotherapy quality assurance system intended to enhance outcomes in patients at risk of treatment failure. Method: Original data from six major studies conducted…

Objective: The effects of school-based antibullying programs have typically been examined on small samples, with number of schools ranging from 1 to 78 (Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). This study investigated the effectiveness of the KiVa antibullying program in the beginning of its nationwide implementation in Finland. Method: At each time point,…

Objective: At present, the most frequently investigated psychosocial intervention for borderline personality disorder (BPD) is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the efficacy and long-term effectiveness of DBT. Method: Systematic bibliographic research was undertaken to find relevant literature from online…

The purpose of this review was to evaluate whether the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP), a group cognitive-behavioral intervention, is effective in targeting depressive symptoms in youths. We identified 17 controlled evaluations of PRP (N = 2,498) in which depressive symptoms had been measured via an online search of PsycInfo, Medline, ERIC, and…

Prob,In this meta-analytic review, the authors summarized the effects of depression prevention programs for youth as well as investigated participant, intervention, provider, and research design features associated with larger effects. They identified 47 trials that evaluated 32 prevention programs, producing 60 intervention effect sizes. The…

A meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials of social skills training for schizophrenia was conducted. Outcome measures from 22 studies including 1,521 clients were categorized according to a proximal-distal continuum in relation to the presumed site of action of skills training interventions, with content mastery tests and performance-based…

Evaluated the effectiveness of paradoxical interventions in psychotherapy, in a meta-analysis of 12 data sets. Found that paradoxical interventions were as effective as, but not more effective than, the typical treatment made except for one month after treatment termination and with more severe cases, when it showed relatively greater…

Research on the prevention of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents was reviewed and synthesized with meta-analysis. When all 30 studies were included, selective prevention programs were found to be more effective than universal programs immediately following intervention. Both selective and indicated prevention programs were more…