Is symptom outcome the whole story?-A multilevel meta-analysis of systemic therapy for adults including family system functioning.

Autor: Braus N; School of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany., Flückiger C; Institute of Psychology, Chair of Clinical Psychology II, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany., Wichmann J; School of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany., Frankman C; School of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany., Lang A; School of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany., Hunger-Schoppe C; School of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Psychotherapy research : journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research [Psychother Res] 2024 Sep 09, pp. 1-14. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Sep 09.
DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2024.2394192
Abstrakt: Objective: Systemic Therapy conceives mental health symptoms in the context of social systems. Previous meta-analyses on Systemic Therapy focused on symptoms. This meta-analysis aims to focus on family system functioning while including all types of outcomes.
Method: We conducted a systematic literature research in multiple databases (PsycInfo, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central). We included RCT-studies on adults with psychiatric diagnoses, which compared Systemic Therapy with active psychosocial control. The literature research resulted in 171 coded effect sizes of 32 RCTs. We conducted a random-effects three-level meta-analysis. We categorized outcomes into symptoms of patients, family system functioning, further secondary outcomes of patients, and psychopathology of family members.
Results: The results show a small significant overall effect size of g  = .30 ( CI: .15-.45 , p  < .001, k  = 171, s  = 32) for all outcomes. Systemic Therapy revealed small effect sizes with regard to family system functioning ( g  = .34, z  = 3.51, p  = .0004, k  = 26, s  = 12), symptoms ( g  = .30, z  = 3.74, p  = .0002, k  = 73, s  = 29), and further secondary outcomes ( g  = .32, z  = 3.83, p  = .0001, k  = 63, s  = 19). The effect sizes for psychopathology of family system members were reported rarely ( k  = 9, s  = 6).
Conclusion: This meta-analysis shows the potential relevance of investigating family system functioning as a primary outcome for Systemic Therapy.
Databáze: MEDLINE