Abstract
Background: International clinical practice guidelines commonly recommend the provision of psychological therapies for psychosis and schizophrenia as an adjunct to medication. However, access to recommended therapies in routine clinical practice is limited. The aim of this review was to synthesise the available data on the provision of recommended psychological therapies for psychosis and schizophrenia across international mental health systems.
Methods: Electronic databases (PsychINFO, Pubmed and EMBASE) were searched for audits, service evaluation projects, or surveys, which reported data on rates of offer or receipt of any recommended psychological therapy or therapeutic intervention as part of routine clinical care.
Results: Twenty-two eligible studies from 9 countries were identified (N participants = 79,407). The most commonly recommended therapies in national guidelines were Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) and Family Interventions (FI). The overall pooled prevalence of rate of receipt of CBTp was 24% [95% CI 0.15-0.32] based on 15 studies (N = 42,494), with a higher rate of receipt of therapy found when pooling data from Early Intervention services only (41% [95% CI 0.21 – 0.60], 6 studies, N = 11, 068). The overall pooled prevalence of rate of receipt of FI was 30% [95% CI 0.22-0.37] based on 14 studies (N =13, 863).
Conclusions: Overall rates of receipt of recommended psychological therapies for psychosis were low across the 9 countries data were available for in this review. However, there were high rates of heterogeneity across studies, meaning that pooled estimates should be interpreted with caution. Sources of heterogeneity included different service settings (e.g. early intervention vs. non-early intervention services), and varying methods used to collect the data (e.g. audit of electronic health records vs. self-report etc.). There were no available data from the continents of South America, Asia, or Africa, meaning that a truly global picture of provision of psychological therapies for psychosis and schizophrenia is currently lacking.
Methods: Electronic databases (PsychINFO, Pubmed and EMBASE) were searched for audits, service evaluation projects, or surveys, which reported data on rates of offer or receipt of any recommended psychological therapy or therapeutic intervention as part of routine clinical care.
Results: Twenty-two eligible studies from 9 countries were identified (N participants = 79,407). The most commonly recommended therapies in national guidelines were Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) and Family Interventions (FI). The overall pooled prevalence of rate of receipt of CBTp was 24% [95% CI 0.15-0.32] based on 15 studies (N = 42,494), with a higher rate of receipt of therapy found when pooling data from Early Intervention services only (41% [95% CI 0.21 – 0.60], 6 studies, N = 11, 068). The overall pooled prevalence of rate of receipt of FI was 30% [95% CI 0.22-0.37] based on 14 studies (N =13, 863).
Conclusions: Overall rates of receipt of recommended psychological therapies for psychosis were low across the 9 countries data were available for in this review. However, there were high rates of heterogeneity across studies, meaning that pooled estimates should be interpreted with caution. Sources of heterogeneity included different service settings (e.g. early intervention vs. non-early intervention services), and varying methods used to collect the data (e.g. audit of electronic health records vs. self-report etc.). There were no available data from the continents of South America, Asia, or Africa, meaning that a truly global picture of provision of psychological therapies for psychosis and schizophrenia is currently lacking.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 8 |
| Journal | International Journal of Mental Health Systems |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Mar 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Availability of data and materialThe datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study, and STATA analysis script, are available on the Open Science Framework repository, doi: 10.17605/OSF.IO/FSEQM
Funding
Not applicable.
Keywords
- Cognitive behaviour therapy
- Evidence-based medicine
- Meta-analysis
- Psychosocial interventions
- Psychotic disorders
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Phychiatric Mental Health
- Health Policy
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health
