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The effect of psychotherapy for depression on improvements in social functioning: a meta-analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2014

F. Renner ,
P. Cuijpers  and
M. J. H. Huibers
F. Renner*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
P. Cuijpers
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
M. J. H. Huibers
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, The Netherlands Department of Clinical Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
*Address for correspondence: Mr F. Renner, Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Patients with depression often report impairments in social functioning. From a patient perspective, improvements in social functioning might be an important outcome in psychotherapy for depression. Therefore, it is important to examine the effects of psychotherapy on social functioning in patients with depression.

Method

We conducted a meta-analysis on studies of psychotherapy for depression that reported results for social functioning at post-treatment. Only studies that compared psychotherapy to a control condition were included (31 studies with 2956 patients).

Results

The effect size of psychotherapy on social functioning was small to moderate, before [Hedges' g = 0.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.32–0.60] and after adjusting for publication bias (g = 0.40, 95% CI 0.25–0.55). Univariate moderator analyses revealed that studies using care as usual as a control group versus other control groups yielded lower effect sizes, whereas studies conducted in the USA versus other countries and studies that used clinician-rated instruments versus self-report yielded higher effect sizes. Higher quality studies yielded lower effect sizes whereas the number of treatment sessions and the effect size of depressive symptoms were positively related to the effect size of social functioning. When controlling for these and additional characteristics simultaneously in multivariate meta-regression, the effect size of depressive symptoms, treatment format and number of sessions were significant predictors. The effect size of social functioning remained marginally significant, indicating that improvements in social functioning are not fully explained by improvements in depressive symptoms.

Conclusions

Psychotherapy for depression results in small to moderate improvements in social functioning. These improvements are strongly associated with, but not fully explained by, improvements in depressive symptoms.

Keywords

Depressionmeta-analysispsychotherapysocial functioning
Type
Review Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 14 , October 2014 , pp. 2913 - 2926
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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