The effectiveness of third wave cognitive behavioural therapies for children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Objectives: Third wave cognitive behavioural therapies are increasingly used with children and adolescents. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the effectiveness of four third-wave interventions (acceptance and commitment therapy, compassion focused therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and metacognitive therapy) for youth. Methods: Four electronic databases were used to identify randomized controlled trials, which tested effects related to health, well-being and functioning. Sensitivity analyses considering study quality were conducted and moderators were explored. Results:The results based on 50 RCTs meeting inclusion criteria indicated emotional symptoms/internalizing problems (g = −.68, 95% CI −.98 to −.37, k = 43, N = 3265), behavioural difficulties/externalizing problems (g = −.62, 95% CI −1.01 to −.22, k = 23, N = 1659), interference from difficulties (g = −.46, 95% CI −.87 to −.05, k = 21, N = 1786), third wave processes (g = .39, 95% CI .17 to .62, k = 22, N = 1900), wellbeing/flourishing (g = .76, 95% CI .35 to 1.17, k = 21, N = 1303) and physical health/pain (g = .72, 95% CI .01 to 1.44, k = 9, N = 1171) yielded significant effects. Effect for quality of life (g = .62, 95% CI −.08 to 1.31, k = 12, N = 1271) was non-significant. When analysing only those studies rated moderate-high quality, third wave interventions yielded significant superiority effects compared to controls for emotional symptoms/internalizing problems (g = −.55, 95% CI −.82 to −.27, k = 28, N = 2110),

Psychological interventions for depression in children and adolescents: A bibliometric analysis

“…The third-wave CBT: The cluster "CBT" is often considered the most recognized psychological intervention for children and adolescents with depression, which can help people learn to identify relationships between cognition, behavior, and mood, and break the cycle of depression by changing distorted cognition or avoidance behaviors[ 11 ]. In recent years, the third-wave CBT approach has been becoming popular, and promising results for the use of third-wave CBT with youth were found in a large meta-analysis[ 8 ]. By contrast to traditional syndrome-specific CBT, the third-wave CBT has become more flexible and process-focused[ 7 ], which targets core psychological processes of change that are functionally important to long-term outcomes in psychological disease[ 12 ].…”

“…So far, no papers have been published in terms of PIDCA using bibliometrics. According to the papers we reviewed initially, there has been a major shift in the mainstream of psychotherapy paradigm in the late 19 th and early 20 th century[ 7 ], as well as a large number of emerging studies on child and adolescent psychotherapy conducted over the past 10 years[ 8 ]. Therefore, considering the developmental process and growing trend of psychotherapy, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of PIDCA from 2010 to the present to systematically introduce the knowledge structure and theme trends through data mining and mapping.…”

Explaining child-centered play therapy through a cognitive–behavioral lens to increase caregiver buy-in.

“…Regarding typical lengths of CBT with youth, protocols tend to range from 10 to 16 weekly sessions, with extensions to 20 sessions found to be helpful and common (Kagan et al, 2021). Perkins et al (2022) reported intervention durations varying from a single 30-min session to 50 hr of therapy over 20 weeks in meta-analysis of third-wave CBTs for youth.…”

Promoting the mental health and well-being of vulnerable youth through art: A descriptive qualitative study

“…Conventional approaches to therapy with children are vast and wellreviewed, yet lack availability (Boekhoven et al, 2012). For example, cognitive behavioural therapy has proven to be effective amongst a wide variety of youth populations (e.g., Perkins et al, 2022;Wuthrich et al, 2023), but it is not as easily accessible (Dubé et al, 2019). Conversely, unconventional approaches to treatment such as art-based interventions have been less studied, but have the potential for wider availability (Boekhoven et al, 2012).…”