Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology, University of Kentucky, United States.
Department of Educational and Psychological Studies, University of Miami, United States.
J Sch Psychol. 2016 Jun;56:59-87. doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2016.03.001. Epub 2016 May 14.
The present study is a quantitative synthesis of the available literature to investigate the efficacy of psychotherapy for children's mental health outcomes. In particular, this study focuses on potential moderating variables-study design, treatment, client, and therapist characteristics-that may influence therapeutic outcomes for youth but have not been thoroughly accounted for in prior meta-analytic studies. An electronic search of relevant databases resulted in 190 unpublished and published studies that met criteria for inclusion in the analysis. Effect sizes differed by study design. Pre-post-test designs resulted in absolute magnitudes of treatment effects ranging from |-0.02| to |-0.76| while treatment versus control group comparison designs resulted in absolute magnitudes of treatment effects ranging from |-0.14| to |-2.39|. Changes in youth outcomes larger than 20% were found, irrespective of study design, for outcomes focused on psychosomatization (29% reduction), school attendance (25% increase), and stress (48% reduction). The magnitude of changes after psychotherapy ranged from 6% (externalizing problems) to 48% (stress). Several moderator variables significantly influenced psychotherapy treatment effect sizes, including frequency and length of treatment as well as treatment format. However, results did not support the superiority of a single type of intervention for most outcomes. Implications for therapy with school-aged youth and future research are discussed.
本研究是对现有文献的定量综合，旨在探讨心理疗法对儿童心理健康结果的疗效。特别是，本研究关注可能影响青年治疗效果的潜在调节变量 - 研究设计、治疗、客户和治疗师的特点 - 但在之前的元分析研究中并未得到充分考虑。对相关数据库的电子搜索产生了 190 项符合纳入分析标准的未发表和已发表的研究。研究设计不同，效果大小也不同。前后测试设计的治疗效果绝对值范围为 |-0.02| 到 |-0.76|，而治疗与对照组比较设计的治疗效果绝对值范围为 |-0.14| 到 |-2.39|。无论研究设计如何，针对心身化（减少 29%）、出勤率（增加 25%）和压力（减少 48%）等结果，发现青少年结果的变化大于 20%。心理治疗后的变化幅度从 6%（外在问题）到 48%（压力）不等。几个调节变量显著影响心理治疗效果大小，包括治疗的频率和时长以及治疗形式。然而，结果并不支持大多数结果的单一干预类型的优越性。讨论了对学龄青年的治疗和未来研究的影响。
