Abstract
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 An electronic search of relevant databases resulted in 190 unpublished and published studies that met criteria for inclusion in the analysis.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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 59-87 |
Number of pages | 29 |
Journal | Journal of School Psychology |
Volume | 56 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1 2016 |
Keywords
- Child outcomes
- Counseling
- Mental health
- Meta-analysis
- Quantitative review
- Therapy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Developmental and Educational Psychology