SynthesisPsychological medicine2017
Interventions to reduce the impact of unemployment and economic hardship on mental health in the general population: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Psychological medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 4 of them syntheses 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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interventions to Foster Mental Health and Reintegration in Individuals Who Are Unemployed: Systematic Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of employment and income support interventions on the health of young adults with episodic disability: Findings from a systematic review.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2024Pooled it
- Health-improving interventions for obtaining employment in unemployed job seekers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Interventions to reduce the impact of unemployment and economic hardship on mental health in the general population: a systematic review.Psychological medicine · 2017Pooled it
- Evaluating potential mediators for the impact of a family-based economic intervention (Suubi+Adherence) on the mental health of adolescents living with HIV in Uganda.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Trial
- Financial Stressors and Suicide.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Assessing the economic case for public health interventions provided in non-health public sector settings: a feasibility study in job centres in Cornwall, South West of England.Discover mental health · 2025Article
- A Short Report of Mental Health Issues among the Young people: Insight from the Fasa Cohort Study : Mental Health Issues Among the Young people based on Fasa Cohort Study.Galen medical journal · 2025Article
- Paradoxes of interdependence and dependence": A qualitative study of economic difficulties and relational encounters prior to men's suicide in Ghana.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2023Article
- Financial strain and depression in the U.S.: a scoping review.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- Area disadvantage and mental health over the life course: a 69-year prospective birth cohort study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2023Article
- Understanding the psychological therapy treatment outcomes for young adults who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET), moderators of outcomes, and what might be done to improve them.Psychological medicine · 2023Article
- Mental Health, Material Possessions, and Social Capital During COVID-19: A Study of the United States Urban Working-Age Population.Applied research in quality of life · 2023Article
- Food insecurity, mental health and in-hospital mortality following the COVID-19 pandemic in a socially deprived UK coastal town.BMJ nutrition, prevention & health · 2023Article
- Projected all-cause deaths attributable to COVID-19-related unemployment in Croatia in 2020.Public health · 2022Article
- Preventing male suicide through a psychosocial intervention that provides psychological support and tackles financial difficulties: a mixed method evaluation.BMC psychiatry · 2022Article
- COVID-19 and Mental Health Concerns Among Business Owners: a Cross-Sectional Study from India.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2022Article
- Transition to Labor Market among Young Adults with Serious Mental Illness.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The Role of Unemployment, Financial Hardship, and Economic Recession on Suicidal Behaviors and Interventions to Mitigate Their Impact: A Review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Review
- Economic Recession and the Long Term Risk of Psychiatric Disorders and Alcohol Related Diseases-A Cohort Study From Eastern Finland.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundJob loss, debt and financial difficulties are associated with increased risk of mental illness and suicide in the general population. Interventions targeting people in debt or unemployed might help reduce these effects.
methodWe searched MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and PsycINFO (January 2016) for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions to reduce the effects of unemployment and debt on mental health in general population samples. We assessed papers for inclusion, extracted data and assessed risk of bias.
resultsEleven RCTs (n = 5303 participants) met the inclusion criteria. All recruited participants were unemployed. Five RCTs assessed 'job-club' interventions, two cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and a single RCT assessed each of emotional competency training, expressive writing, guided imagery and debt advice. All studies were at high risk of bias. 'Job club' interventions led to improvements in levels of depression up to 2 years post-intervention; effects were strongest among those at increased risk of depression (improvements of up to 0.2-0.3 s.d. in depression scores). There was mixed evidence for effectiveness of group CBT on symptoms of depression. An RCT of debt advice found no effect but had poor uptake. Single trials of three other interventions showed no evidence of benefit.
conclusions'Job-club' interventions may be effective in reducing depressive symptoms in unemployed people, particularly those at high risk of depression. Evidence for CBT-type interventions is mixed; further trials are needed. However the studies are old and at high risk of bias. Future intervention studies should follow CONSORT guidelines and address issues of poor uptake.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.