The Efficacy of Psychological, Educational, and Behavioral Treatment: Confirmation From Meta-Analysis

Conventional reviews of research on the efficacy of psychological, educational, and behavioral treatments often find considerable variation in outcome among studies and, as a consequence, fail to reach firm conclusions about the overall effectiveness of the interventions in question. In contrast met...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American psychologist 1993-12, Vol.48 (12), p.1181-1209
Main Authors: Lipsey, Mark W, Wilson, David B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior
Behavior Therapy
Behaviourism
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - methods
Counselling
Education
Female
Human
Humans
Male
Mental Disorders - therapy
Meta Analysis
Meta-Analysis as Topic
Psychological disorders
Psychology
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy - methods
Social research
Systematic review
Treatment
Treatment Effectiveness Evaluation
Treatment Outcome
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Conventional reviews of research on the efficacy of psychological, educational, and behavioral treatments often find considerable variation in outcome among studies and, as a consequence, fail to reach firm conclusions about the overall effectiveness of the interventions in question. In contrast meta-analytic reviews show a strong, dramatic pattern of positive overall effects that cannot readily be explained as artifacts of meta-analytic technique or generalized placebo effects. Moreover, the effects are not so small that they can be dismissed as lacking practical or clinical significance. Although meta-analysis has limitations, there are good reasons to believe that its results are more credible than those of conventional reviews and to conclude that well-developed psychological, educational, and behavioral treatment is generally efficacious.
ISSN:0003-066X
1935-990X
DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.48.12.1181