Chatbot-Delivered Psychotherapy for Adults With Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression

Although psychotherapy is a well-established treatment for depression and anxiety, chatbot-delivered psychotherapy is an emerging field that has yet to be explored in depth. This review aims to (a) examine the effectiveness of chatbot-delivered psychotherapy in improving depressive symptoms among adults with depression or anxiety, and (b) evaluate the preferred features for the design of chatbot-delivered psychotherapy. Eight electronic databases were searched for relevant randomized controlled trials. Meta-analysis and random effects meta-regression was conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 3.0 software. Overall effect was measured using Hedges’s g and determined using z statistics at significance level p < .05. Assessment of heterogeneity was done using χ² and I² tests. A meta-analysis of 11 trials revealed that chatbot-delivered psychotherapy significantly improved depressive symptoms (g = 0.54, 95% confidence interval [−0.66, −0.42], p < .001). Although no significant subgroup differences were detected, results revealed larger effect sizes for samples of clinically diagnosed anxiety or depression, chatbots with an embodiment, a combination of types of input and output formats, less than 10 sessions, problem-solving therapy, off-line platforms, and in different regions of the United States than their counterparts. Meta-regression did not identify significant covariates that had an impact on depressive symptoms. Chatbot-delivered psychotherapy can be adopted in health care institutions as an alternative treatment for depression and anxiety. More high-quality trials are warranted to confirm the effectiveness of chatbot-delivered psychotherapy on depressive symptoms.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020153332.     

The Siblings of Individuals with Mental Retardation: A Quantitative Integration of the Literature

The sibling relationship has recently become the focus of much research in developmental psychology. The family system perspective implies the presence of a sibling with mental retardation will impact on the psychological development and functioning of their typically developing siblings. Past reviews of the literature have found this impact to be negative but there is the suggestion of positive consequences to having a sibling with mental retardation. The present meta-analysis sought to quantitatively integrate 25 studies and 79 effect sizes from the literature on the siblings of individuals with mental retardation. A small negative effect for having a sibling with mental retardation was discovered that could not be attributed to a publication bias or some other artifact. This negative effect was greatest for direct observation measures, measures of psychological functioning, especially depression, and for children. Limitations to this meta-analysis and directions for future research are discussed.     

主观幸福感与大三人格特征相关研究的元分析

运用元分析方法对国内有关主观幸福感与大三人格特质的关系问题进行了探讨, 通过文献检索, 纳入文献43篇, 总样本量为16377。结果表明：(1)主观幸福感与外倾性存在正相关, 与神经质、精神质存在负相关。对比国外相关研究, 中国被试群体的外倾性、神经质与主观幸福感的相关更为密切, 人格特质与文化的契合性对主观幸福感与人格特质的相关有较大影响; (2)主观幸福感与大三人格之间的相关不受主观幸福感结构(总体幸福感、生活满意度、积极情感和消极情感)的影响。主观幸福感的结构需要进一步明确; (3)主观幸福感与内外倾人格特质的相关受不同年龄群体的调节, 而主观幸福感与神经质、精神质的关系则不受影响。最后, 对研究结果进行讨论并展望未来研究方向。     

A meta-analysis of bibliotherapy studies

Used meta-analysis to examine the efficacy of bibliotherapy. Bibliotherapy treatments were compared to control groups and therapist-administered treatments. The mean estimated effect size (d) of the 70 samples analyzed was +0.565. There was no significant differences between the effects of bibliotherapy and therapist-administered treatments, as well as no significant erosion of effect sizes at follow-up. Bibliotherapy did appear more effective for certain problem types (assertion training, anxiety, and sexual dysfunction) than for others (weight loss, impulse control, and studying problems). Overall, the amount of therapist contact during bibliotherapy did not seem to relate to effectiveness, but there was evidence that certain problem types (weight loss and anxiety reduction) responded better with increased therapist contact. Recommendations for future research were given, especially for more research on the commonly purchased books and moderator analyses by personality type and reading ability. This article is based on a doctoral dissertation by Rick W. Marrs under the direction of Steven D. Brown at Loyola University of Chicago. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Brown as well as of my other committee members, Joseph Durlak and Gloria Lewis. I also gratefully acknowledge the assistance in coding done by Laura Marrs and John Gibson and helpful editorial comments made by Wayne Lucht.     

差数显著性t检验与元分析的对比研究

利用计算机构造被试总体、模拟实验研究程序进行抽样研究,探讨显著性ｔ检验方法与元分析方法在检验实验结果数据方面的差异。在模拟实验过程中,ｔ验受到显著性水平、样本容量和总体效果大小的影响,因此最终影响了统计推断的可靠性,建议：在进行显著性检验过程中,应对统计检验能力进行估计;元分析方法以样本为元素对总体进行推断,因此具有很高的准确性和可靠性,它将很有可能成为今后心理学研究的重要统计工具。     

元分析的特点、方法及其应用的现状分析

元分析是心理、教育及其他科学领域内新近出现的一种重要研究方法,它主要是借助统计方法,对针对同一问题的大量研究结果进行综合分析与评价,从而概括出其研究结果所反映的共同效应,即普遍性的结论。但这种方法在目前国内心理与教育研究中仍不多见。本文首先将通过与其他整合研究结果的分析方法的比较,归纳出元分析的主要特点及其局限性,其次本文着重介绍目前应用较为广泛的三种重要的元分析方法,并对三种方法作出比较分析;最后本文还将对元分析技术在国内心理学研究中的应用现状作分析与评价。     

2010~2020中国内地高中生心理健康问题检出率的元分析

我国高中生心理健康问题的检出率亟需关注, 许多研究对此进行了探究, 但结果并不一致。为明确近10年来我国高中生心理健康问题的检出状况及其影响因素, 对检索后获得的252项研究进行了元分析。结果发现: 检出率由高到低依次是抑郁(28.0%)、焦虑(26.3%)、睡眠问题(23.0%)、自我伤害(22.8%)、自杀意念(17.1%)、躯体化(9.8%)、自杀计划(6.9%)、自杀企图(未遂) (2.9%)。我国高中生心理健康问题检出率受出版年代、测量工具、检出标准、检出时间、年级和区域影响。未来应着力编制标准化测评工具、构建心理健康教育长效机制并对高年级、欠发达地区高中生的心理健康问题予以重点关注。     

气质性乐观与心理健康关系的元分析

运用元分析方法分别探讨了气质性乐观与心理健康的积极指标和消极指标的关系。共有106项研究满足了元分析的标准,涉及气质性乐观与心理健康积极指标的研究有70项,包括83个独立样本(N=30627);涉及气质性乐观与心理健康消极指标的研究有75项,包括105个独立样本(N=39064)。元分析结果发现:(1)整体上气质性乐观与心理健康积极指标有显著正相关(r=0.41),与心理健康消极指标有显著负相关(r=-0.41)。(2)气质性乐观与不同心理健康指标的相关有显著差异,积极指标中,与自尊的相关最高;消极指标中,与抑郁的相关最高。(3)气质性乐观测量工具的差异对其与心理健康的关系没有显著影响。(4)不同年龄阶段群体中气质性乐观与心理健康的关系没有显著差异。(5)文化背景差异对两者的关系有显著影响,西方文化中气质性乐观与心理健康的相关高于东方文化中的相关。     

Accounting for Missing Correlation Coefficients in Fixed-Effects MASEM

Meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) is increasingly applied to advance theories by synthesizing existing findings. MASEM essentially consists of two stages. In Stage 1, a pooled correlation matrix is estimated based on the reported correlation coefficients in the individual studies. In Stage 2, a structural model (such as a path model) is fitted to explain the pooled correlations. Frequently, the individual studies do not provide all the correlation coefficients between the research variables. In this study, we modify the currently optimal MASEM-method to deal with missing correlation coefficients, and compare its performance with existing methods. This study is the first to evaluate the performance of fixed-effects MASEM methods under different levels of missing correlation coefficients. We found that the often used univariate methods performed very poorly, while the multivariate methods performed well overall.     

Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with negatively variable impacts on domains of female sexual function: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

To systematically review the literature to identify the impact of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on specific female sexual function domains. A meta-analysis was performed and the related literature were searched in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CBM and Web of Science databases, and in reference lists of articles and systematic reviews. Score of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) was used as the outcome measurement, and mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Five studies were included, including 346 women with RA and 237 healthy female controls. Each domain of the FSFI score: lubrication (MD, ?2.48; 95% CI, ?3.69, ?1.28), orgasm-1.71 (?2.09, ?1.33), sexual desire-1.27 (?1.59, ?0.95), satisfaction-1.67 (?2.18, ?1.16), arousal-1.83 (?2.85, ?0.82), pain-1.57 (?2.43, ?0.70) and the total score ?8.84 (?11.88, ?5.79) were lower in RA women than healthy controls. Furthermore, lubrication dimension was most severely affected especially. This meta-analysis showed that female RA patients scored lower in each dimension of FSFI, mostly in the lubrication domain. It demonstrated that targeted interventions should be done to improve their sexual function. Future well-designed researches with larger sample sizes are necessary to evaluate the potential risk factors which determine female sexual dysfunction.