Mediators in Psychological Treatments for Anxiety and Depression in Adolescents and Young People: A Protocol of a Systematic Review

Abstract

IntroductionAnxiety and depressive disorders are a significant problem that starts in childhood or adolescence and should be addressed early to avoid chronic mental conditions. There is strong evidence to demonstrate that psychological treatments are effective for these disorders, however, little is known on mediators and mechanisms of change of psychological treatment in adolescents and young adults. Understanding the pathways through which psychological treatments operate will facilitate more effective treatments.AimWe aim to conduct a systematic review, exploring the available evidence on mediators of psychological treatments for anxiety and depression in adolescents and young adults.MethodsA systematic search has been performed on PubMed and PsycINFO databases to identify studies from inception to 23rd February 2020. Eligible studies include randomized controlled trials and trials (quasi-experimental) designs that have enrolled adolescents and young adults presenting with depression and/or anxiety and that have examined mediators of psychological treatments. A group of 20 reviewers from the COST-Action TREATme (CA16102) divided into 10 pairs independently screen studies for inclusion, extract information from the included studies, and assess the methodological quality of the included studies and the requirements for mediators. The methodological quality will be assessed by The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Extracted data from the included studies will be collected and presented using a narrative approach.DiscussionThis systematic review will summarize and provide a comprehensive overview of the current evidence on mediators of psychological treatments for anxiety and depression for adolescents and young adults. Results will allow the identification of strategies to optimize intervention to enhance clinical outcomes.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval is not required. Findings from this systematic review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and disseminated at conferences and meetings. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021234641.

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“…The quality of the evidence of the selected studies was verified with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool [MMAT; (Hong et al, 2018 )]. This tool has recently been used in systematic reviews in psychology (Conejo-Cerón et al, 2021 ; Gergov et al, 2022 ), as it is designed for quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods studies. It includes two screening questions and five items on the representativeness of the sample, the adequacy of the measurements, the value of the data, the design and analysis, and the exposure status.…”