Psycho-education for anxiety disorders in adults: a systematic review of its effectiveness

Abstract

The present study aimed to provide a comprehensive review of psycho-education in adults with formally diagnosed anxiety disorders, assessing its effectiveness in reducing the severity of anxiety symptoms, psychological distress, depression and pain, and improving quality of life and satisfaction with treatment. A systematic search was conducted using a narrative approach for extraction and synthesis of the data. Searches were undertaken between April and May 2017 in the following databases: Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL). The studies included had been published between 2000 and 2017. 2804 references were identified, but the final sample of this review only considered five studies involving 490 participants. Three of the studies used a randomized design. Most of the interventions used a face-to-face format. In addition, the internet and the telephone were delivery resources used in available interventions addressed to anxiety disorders. All intervention protocols included an educational component and anxiety symptom control skills. Psycho-education improved the psychological distress, pain and quality of life of the patients with anxiety disorders and these effects remained over time. The interventions and therapists received a good evaluation. However, we emphasize the need to develop more research with sophisticated design to test the effect of psycho-educational interventions in this setting.