Effect of psychological interventions on depressive symptoms in the long term after acquired brain injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of psychological therapies applied more than one year after an acquired brain injury (ABI) in reducing depressive symptoms. A systematic literature search of databases yielded 48 studies that evaluated a psychological intervention for people with an ABI, applied the intervention on average more than one year after the ABI, compared pre- and post-intervention validated measures of depression and were available in English. The intervention did not have to be implemented with the sole of aim of reducing depressive symptoms. There was a significant reduction in depressive symptoms in those who received a psychological intervention in 29 out of 48 studies. Thirty-one studies compared depression scores in an intervention and a control group and were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis indicated a significant small overall effect size, −0.31, (standardized difference in means as the measure of ES; 95% CI, −0.53, −0.09, p =.0057, Tau² = 0.30), suggesting that psychological interventions are effective in reducing depressive symptoms in those with an ABI when compared to control conditions. The effect may be biased by a small-study effect and dependent effect sizes.