Abstract

META-ANALYSIS: THE EFFICACY OF PROBLEM-SOLVING THERAPY FOR PATIENTS WITH DEPRESSIVE AND/OR ANXIETY DISORDERS IN PRIMARY CARE

Abdulelah Mohammed Abdullah Hakami*, Fayi Mohammed Fayi almakhluti, Khaled Nasser Ahmed Mubarki, Mohammed Ali Mansur Maashi, Naif Abdulmajeed Ali Refaei, Saeed Ahmed Alzahrani, Rana Abdulrahman Baflah, Renad Yaslam Asam, Hadeel Salem Awadallah Alwagdani, Abidah Hasan Mohsen ALesawi

Abstract

Background & Purpose: Problem Solving Therapy (PST) has emerged in several current randomized controlled trials as some other promising time-restricted, manualized psychotherapy for depression in older adults. PST teaches people a systematic and stepwise approach to identifying and solving troubles, based at the purpose that developing the talents to cope with lifestyles stressors decreases their poor impact on mood and well-being. The Aim of this work is to provide cumulative data about the efficacy of problem-solving therapy for patients with depressive and/or anxiety disorders in primary care. Methods: A systematic search was performed of PubMed, Cochrane library Ovid, Scopus & Google scholar to identify Family medicine RCTs, clinical trials, and comparative studies, which studied the outcome of Treatment group versus Control group of depressive and/or anxiety patients. A meta-analysis was done using fixed and random-effect methods. The main outcome was disease severity scale, HDRS, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale or BDI scale (Beck Depression Inventory). Results: A total of 5 studies were identified involving 1203 patients, with 759 patients in Treatment group, and 444 patients in Control group. Regarding main outcome measure, the fixed-effects model of the meta-analysis study showed significant decrease in mean disease severity scale in Treatment group compared to Control group (p = 0.044). Conclusion: To conclude, results from the study supported PST’s effectiveness for primary care depression and/or anxiety. Our preliminary results also indicated that physician-involved PST offers meaningful improvements for primary care patients’ depression and/or anxiety.

Keywords: Problem-Solving Therapy (PST), Depressive and/or anxiety disorders, Primary care.