Article type
Abstract
Background: There is currently an increasing trend in comparing different interventions using a network meta-analysis (NMA) approach in many health areas. Psychological interventions have been shown to positively impact various clinical outcomes. Understanding the methodological approaches employed in NMA of psychological interventions is crucial for ensuring robustness and reliability in synthesizing evidence. This study aimed to explore methodological approaches in NMA of psychological interventions.
Methods: The following bibliographic databases—PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL)—were searched from the inception of each database to 28 September 2023. The inclusion criteria were as follows: 1) The study must be an NMA of psychological interventions that included only randomized controlled trials and 2) reported clinical outcomes targeted at individual patients. Three independent researchers conducted the study selection and data extraction. The extracted data included study characteristics and methodology related to NMA of psychological interventions. The findings were presented using descriptive statistics.
Results: Search results yielded 1827 articles after duplicates were removed. A total of 191 studies met the eligibility criteria. Prior protocol registration was reported in 133 studies (69.3%), of which 115 (60.2%) were registered at PROSPERO. MEDLINE was the most frequently used database (188 out of 191 studies, 98.4%). Only 74 studies have searched for grey literature. Most of the included studies (168/191, 88.0%) used at least 2 independent reviewers to conduct study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment. One hundred sixty-six studies (86.9%) classified the treatment node by the type of psychological intervention, while 12 studies (6.3%) classified it based on the mode of delivery. Seven studies used component NMA based on the active component of intervention, and 4 studies were classified by main type and subtype of psychological intervention. Only 2 studies classified psychological interventions by considering both their type and mode of delivery. Assessment of the certainty of evidence was not reported in 106 studies (55.5%).
Conclusions: The methodological approach in published NMA of psychological interventions should be improved in terms of searching cover grey literature, classification of psychological interventions into treatment nodes, and assessment of certainty of evidence.
Methods: The following bibliographic databases—PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL)—were searched from the inception of each database to 28 September 2023. The inclusion criteria were as follows: 1) The study must be an NMA of psychological interventions that included only randomized controlled trials and 2) reported clinical outcomes targeted at individual patients. Three independent researchers conducted the study selection and data extraction. The extracted data included study characteristics and methodology related to NMA of psychological interventions. The findings were presented using descriptive statistics.
Results: Search results yielded 1827 articles after duplicates were removed. A total of 191 studies met the eligibility criteria. Prior protocol registration was reported in 133 studies (69.3%), of which 115 (60.2%) were registered at PROSPERO. MEDLINE was the most frequently used database (188 out of 191 studies, 98.4%). Only 74 studies have searched for grey literature. Most of the included studies (168/191, 88.0%) used at least 2 independent reviewers to conduct study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment. One hundred sixty-six studies (86.9%) classified the treatment node by the type of psychological intervention, while 12 studies (6.3%) classified it based on the mode of delivery. Seven studies used component NMA based on the active component of intervention, and 4 studies were classified by main type and subtype of psychological intervention. Only 2 studies classified psychological interventions by considering both their type and mode of delivery. Assessment of the certainty of evidence was not reported in 106 studies (55.5%).
Conclusions: The methodological approach in published NMA of psychological interventions should be improved in terms of searching cover grey literature, classification of psychological interventions into treatment nodes, and assessment of certainty of evidence.