Psychoeducation for Children with Chronic Conditions: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of psychoeducational interventions in improving quality of life (QoL) for children with chronic conditions. Methods We identified 25 randomized controlled trials of psychoeducational interventions for children with chronic conditions that reported a QoL outcome and were published 1980–2018. Due to small numbers of interventions in other chronic conditions, comparisons between chronic conditions were limited to 17 studies addressing interventions for asthma and diabetes. Results Psychoeducational interventions were associated with a small, statistically significant improvement in QoL (standardized mean difference = 0.14; 95% confidence interval: 0.06–0.23). The effect was significantly larger for asthma interventions compared to diabetes interventions, and in interventions delivered to younger (under 12 years) rather than older children (12 years and over). Conclusions These results suggest that currently evaluated psychoeducational interventions improve QoL for children with asthma but not for children with diabetes. Children with diabetes may require tailored interventions with additional components alongside psychoeducation. Further intervention studies are needed to generalize to other conditions and to draw conclusions about which settings and modes of delivery are most effective in improving QoL.

Adolescent Health Care Needs and Relationship to Disease in Patients With Childhood‐Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

“…Psychoeducation refers to providing education around the patient's condition, teaching the skills required to manage illness, navigating relationships, and providing coping strategies 37 . Although we did not specifically evaluate the impact of psychoeducation in adolescents with cSLE, one study in children with other chronic illnesses, including diabetes and asthma, showed an improvement in quality‐of‐life measures 38 …”

“…37 Although we did not specifically evaluate the impact of psychoeducation in adolescents with cSLE, one study in children with other chronic illnesses, including diabetes and asthma, showed an improvement in quality-of-life measures. 38 Reproductive health screening and counseling is ideally part of routine primary care, although time constraints and difficulty with access makes this limited in practice for many providers. 39 Additionally, youth with cSLE have been found to visit their rheumatologist more frequently than their primary care provider, 1 which places the onus on us to discuss these adolescent-specific issues.…”

A narrative review of the effects of psychoeducation on children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…Psychoeducational interventions have been shown to improve quality of life for patients with cancer (Barsevick et al, 2002). They are also effective at improving quality of life for children with asthma (Day et al, 2020). In addition, brief psychoeducation of any form has also been shown to reduce relapse and increase medication adherence across a range of mental health disorders in adults (Zhao et al, 2015).…”