Trial reportBMC psychiatry2011
The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study.
Trial report in BMC psychiatry, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Residual posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms after provision of brief behavioral intervention in low- and middle-income countries: An individual-patient data meta-analysis.Depression and anxiety · 2022Pooled it
- Acceptability of an Integrated Model of Mental Health and PrEP Service Delivery for South African Adolescent Girls: Qualitative Results from a Pilot Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Randomized Trial.AIDS and behavior · 2026Trial
- Cost analysis of integrating depression treatment into chronic care in Malawi: evidence from a cluster randomised controlled trial.BMJ open · 2025Trial
- The efficacy of a blended motivational interviewing and problem solving therapy intervention to reduce substance use among patients presenting for emergency services in South Africa: A randomized controlled trial.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2015Trial
- Trial
- Efficacy of an alcohol-focused intervention for improving adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and HIV treatment outcomes - a randomised controlled trial protocol.BMC infectious diseases · 2014Trial
- Brief problem-solving therapy (PST) for women experiencing antenatal depressive symptoms: a randomised, controlled feasibility trial in (an) antenatal care setting in rural Ethiopia.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression Among Children and Adolescents in Low- and Middle-Income Countries-A Systematic Review.Psychiatric research and clinical practice · 2025Review
- Zethembe: a co-developed couples intervention for young heterosexual couples in informal settlements in South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Using the RE-AIM framework to evaluate the implementation of scaling-up the Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe - a quantitative observational study.BMC health services research · 2022Observational
- Adapting an intervention of brief problem-solving therapy to improve the health of women with antenatal depressive symptoms in primary healthcare in rural Ethiopia.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2022Article
- Article
- Brief problem-solving therapy for antenatal depressive symptoms in primary care in rural Ethiopia: protocol for a randomised, controlled feasibility trial.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2021Article
- A task-sharing intervention for prepartum common mental disorders: Feasibility, acceptability and responses in a South African sample.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2020Article
- Article
- The effectiveness of depression management for improving HIV care outcomes in Malawi: protocol for a quasi-experimental study.BMC public health · 2019Article
- Depression among HIV positive pregnant women in Zimbabwe: a primary health care based cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2019Article
- Evaluating the role of levels of exposure to a task shared depression counselling intervention led by behavioural health counsellors: outcome and process evaluation.International journal of mental health systems · 2019Article
- Reducing the treatment gap for mental, neurological and substance use disorders in Africa: lessons from the Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2017Article
- Lay Health Workers' Experience of Delivering a Problem Solving Therapy Intervention for Common Mental Disorders Among People Living with HIV: A Qualitative Study from Zimbabwe.Community mental health journal · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe majority of South Africans with a DSM-IV diagnosis receive no treatment for their mental health problems. There is a move to simplify treatment for common mental disorders (CMDs) in order to ease access. Brief problem solving therapy (PST) might fill the treatment gap for CMD's in deprived communities in South Africa. This pilot study evaluates the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of this PST program for CMD's in deprived communities around Cape Town.
methodsA Dutch problem solving program was adapted and translated into English, Xhosa and Afrikaans and thereafter implemented in townships around Cape Town. An initial attempt to recruit participants for online PST proved difficult, and so the program was adapted to a booklet format. Volunteers experiencing psychological distress were invited to participate in the either individually or group delivered 5-week during self-help program. To evaluate the effectiveness, psychological distress was administered through self-report questionnaires. After completion of the intervention participants also rated the program on various acceptability aspects.
resultsOf 103 participants, 73 completed 5 weeks of brief PST in a booklet/workshop format. There were significantly more dropouts in those who used the booklet individually than in the group. Psychological distress measured on the K-10 and SRQ fell significantly and the program was evaluated positively.
conclusionsThe results suggest that brief problem solving in a booklet/workshop format may be an effective, feasible and acceptable short-term treatment for people with CMD's in deprived communities. In this setting, group delivery of PST had lower drop-out rates than individual delivery, and was more feasible and acceptable. Randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the effect of brief self-help PST more rigorously.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.