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Cited by 412Psychotherapy Techniques and ApplicationsChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Performance of Evidence-Based Youth Psychotherapies Compared With Usual Clinical Care: A Multilevel Meta-analysis

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Weisz, John R., Kuppens, Sofie, Eckshtain, Dikla, Ugueto, Ana M., Hawley, Kristin M., Jensen-Doss, Amanda·2013·JAMA Psychiatry
DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.1176PMC PMC3848075
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Abstract

IMPORTANCE: Research across more than 4 decades has produced numerous empirically tested evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for psychopathology in children and adolescents. The EBPs were developed to improve on usual clinical interventions. Advocates argue that the EBPs should replace usual care, but this assumes that EBPs produce better outcomes than usual care. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether EBPs do in fact produce better outcomes than usual care in youth psychotherapy. We performed a meta-analysis of 52 randomized trials directly comparing EBPs with usual care. Analyses assessed the overall effect of EBPs vs usual care and candidate moderators; we used multilevel analysis to address the dependency among effect sizes (ES) that is common but typically unaddressed in psychotherapy syntheses. DATA SOURCES: We searched the PubMed, PsychINFO, and Dissertation Abstracts International databases for studies from January 1, 1960, through December 31, 2010. STUDY SELECTION: We identified 507 randomized youth psychotherapy trials. Of these, the 52 studies that compared EBPs with usual care were included in the meta-analysis. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Sixteen variables (participant, treatment, outcome, and study characteristics) were extracted from studies, and ESs were calculated for all comparisons of EBP vs usual care. We used an extension of the commonly used random-effects meta-analytic model to obtain an overall estimate of the difference between EBP and usual care while accounting for the dependency among ESs. We then fitted a 3-level mixed-effects model to identify moderators that might explain variation in ESs within and between studies by adding study or ES characteristics as fixed predictors. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Primary outcomes of our meta-analysis were mean ES estimates across all studies and for levels of candidate moderators. These ES values were based on measures of symptoms, functioning, and other outcomes assessed within the 52 randomized trials. RESULTS: Evidence-based psychotherapies outperformed usual care. Mean ES was 0.29; the probability was 58% that a randomly selected youth would have a better outcome after EBP than a randomly selected youth after receiving usual care. The following 3 variables moderated treatment benefit: ESs decreased for studies conducted outside North America, for studies in which all participants were impaired enough to qualify for diagnoses, and for outcomes reported by informants other than the youths and parents in therapy. For certain key groups (eg, studies of clinically referred samples and youths with diagnoses), significant EBP effects were not demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Evidence-based psychotherapies outperform usual care, but the EBP advantage is modest and moderated by youth, location, and assessment characteristics. The EBPs have room for improvement in the magnitude and range of their benefit relative to usual clinical care.

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  • A multilevel meta-analytic model was used to correct for correlated comparisons.

    “To correct for these correlated comparisons (Higgins and Green 2011), we used a multilevel meta-analytic model (Konstantopoulos 2011; Weisz et al. 2013).”

    From Effectiveness of Self-Compassion Related Therapies: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as Weisz et al. 2013

  • Some recent research has raised questions about EBT actual superiority over usual care.

    “some recent research has raised questions about their actual superiority (e.g., Spielmans, Gatlin, & McFall, 2010; Weisz et al., 2012; Weisz et al., 2013)”

    From User‐centered design for psychosocial intervention development and implementation. (2016) · cites this paper as Weisz et al., 2013

  • Better training for primary care physicians to identify individuals at risk of suicide linked to moderate to severe depression in England was evaluated and found to be highly cost-effective.

    “One example is better training for primary care physicians to identify individuals at risk of suicide linked to moderate to severe depression in England. This was evaluated and found to be highly cost-effective. 658,659”

    From Time for united action on depression: a Lancet–World Psychiatric Association Commission (2022) · cites this paper as [659]

  • Older age at placement, frequent placement changes, the number of placements and persistent adverse events after placement pose additional risks for foster children.

    “In addition, older age at placement, frequent placement changes, the number of placements and persistent adverse events after placement pose additional risks for these children [42,43].”

    From Mental disorders in foster children: a study of prevalence, comorbidity and risk factors (2013) · cites this paper as [42]

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Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. [7]General S Report of the Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health: A national action agenda Rockville, MD U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2004 20669515
  2. [20]Borenstein M Hedges LV Higgins JPT Rothstein HR Front Matter Introduction to Meta-Analysis John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 2009
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Authors
Weisz, J. R., Kuppens, S., Eckshtain, D., Ugueto, A. M., Hawley, K. M., & Jensen-Doss, A.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Amsterdam Public Health (NL)
  • University of Missouri (US)
ORCID
Venue
JAMA Psychiatry
Publisher
American Medical Association (AMA)
Published
2013-07-01
Volume
70
Issue
7
Pages
750
ISSN
2168-622X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.1176
PMC
PMC3848075
OpenAlex
W2074697449
Cited by
412
References
113
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 46 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 9
FWCI
34.46
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • JAMA Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • VU Research Portal (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R34MH085963, K23MH093491, MH 085963)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
evidence-based psychotherapy, adolescent psychotherapy, children and adolescents, treatment effect comparison, symptom outcomes, functional outcome, clinical referral, child and adolescent psychopathology
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Mental Disorders, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Psychotherapy, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome, Evidence-Based Practice, Multilevel Analysis

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