TY - JOUR

T1 - Behavioural activation for depression

T2 - an update of meta-analysis of effectiveness and sub group analysis

AU - Ekers, D.

AU - Webster, L.

AU - Van Straten, Annemieke

AU - Cuijpers, Pim

AU - Richards, D.

AU - Gilbody, S.

PY - 2014/6/17

Y1 - 2014/6/17

N2 - BackgroundDepression is a common, disabling condition for which psychological treatments are recommended. Behavioural activation has attracted increased interest in recent years. It has been over 5 years since our meta-analyses summarised the evidence supporting and this systematic review updates those findings and examines moderators of treatment effect.MethodRandomised trials of behavioural activation for depression versus controls or anti-depressant medication were identified using electronic database searches, previous reviews and reference lists. Data on symptom level and study level moderators were extracted and analysed using meta-analysis, sub-group analysis and meta-regression respectively.ResultsTwenty six randomised controlled trials including 1524 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. A random effects meta-analysis of symptom level post treatment showed behavioural activation to be superior to controls (SMD −0.74 CI −0.91 to −0.56, k = 25, N = 1088) and medication (SMD −0.42 CI −0.83 to-0.00, k = 4, N = 283). Study quality was low in the majority of studies and follow- up time periods short. There was no indication of publication bias and subgroup analysis showed limited association between moderators and effect size.ConclusionsThe results in this meta-analysis support and strengthen the evidence base indicating Behavioural Activation is an effective treatment for depression. Further high quality research with longer term follow-up is needed to strengthen the evidence base.

AB - BackgroundDepression is a common, disabling condition for which psychological treatments are recommended. Behavioural activation has attracted increased interest in recent years. It has been over 5 years since our meta-analyses summarised the evidence supporting and this systematic review updates those findings and examines moderators of treatment effect.MethodRandomised trials of behavioural activation for depression versus controls or anti-depressant medication were identified using electronic database searches, previous reviews and reference lists. Data on symptom level and study level moderators were extracted and analysed using meta-analysis, sub-group analysis and meta-regression respectively.ResultsTwenty six randomised controlled trials including 1524 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. A random effects meta-analysis of symptom level post treatment showed behavioural activation to be superior to controls (SMD −0.74 CI −0.91 to −0.56, k = 25, N = 1088) and medication (SMD −0.42 CI −0.83 to-0.00, k = 4, N = 283). Study quality was low in the majority of studies and follow- up time periods short. There was no indication of publication bias and subgroup analysis showed limited association between moderators and effect size.ConclusionsThe results in this meta-analysis support and strengthen the evidence base indicating Behavioural Activation is an effective treatment for depression. Further high quality research with longer term follow-up is needed to strengthen the evidence base.

KW - Health sciences

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84903288794&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/0e1fef9c-c8b6-366f-9761-a201396e3a9e/

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0100100

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0100100

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 24936656

VL - 9

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 6

M1 - e100100

ER -