Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28299896›Full record

SynthesisPsychology and psychotherapy2017

Is behavioural activation effective in the treatment of depression in young people? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Lucy Tindall, Antonina Mikocka-Walus, Dean McMillan, Barry Wright, Catherine Hewitt, Samantha Gascoyne

Erratum issued Registry-linked trialAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Psychology and psychotherapy, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to trial NCT07059234 (The Motor Activity - Subjective Energy), which is not on this map. Cited by 53 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
53citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT07059234 narecruitingnot on this mapstarted 2025, after this paper: background citation

The Motor Activity - Subjective Energy (MASE) Project: Neurobiological and Digital Phenotyping Towards Digital Mental Health Interventions in Depression

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of BernRan2025 to 2027Enrolled180ConditionsDepressive Disorder, MajorArmsNon-exercise activity
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

53 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  18. An Active Inference Model of the Optimism Bias.Computational psychiatry (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Lucy TindallMental Health and Addiction Research Group, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, UK.
Antonina Mikocka-WalusMental Health and Addiction Research Group, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, UK.
Dean McMillanMental Health and Addiction Research Group, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, UK.
Barry WrightChild Oriented Mental Health Intervention Centre (COMIC), University of York, UK.
Catherine HewittYork Trials Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, UK.
Samantha GascoyneMental Health and Addiction Research Group, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeDepression is currently the leading cause of illness and disability in young people. Evidence suggests that behavioural activation (BA) is an effective treatment for depression in adults but less research focuses on its application with young people. This review therefore examined whether BA is effective in the treatment of depression in young people.

methodsA systematic review (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews reference: CRD42015020453), following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, was conducted to examine studies that had explored behavioural interventions for young people with depression. The electronic databases searched included the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, PsychINFO, and Scopus. A meta-analysis employing a generic inverse variance, random-effects model was conducted on the included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to examine whether there were overall effects of BA on the Children's Depression Rating Scale - Revised.

resultsTen studies met inclusion criteria: three RCTs and seven within-participant designs (total n = 170). The review showed that BA may be effective in the treatment of depression in young people. The Cochrane risk of bias tool and the Moncrieff scale used to assess the quality of the included studies revealed a variety of limitations within each.

conclusionsDespite demonstrating that BA may be effective in the treatment of depression in young people, the review indicated a number of methodological problems in the included studies meaning that the results and conclusions should be treated with caution. Furthermore, the paucity of studies in this area highlights the need for further research. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Currently BA is included within National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2009) guidelines as an evidence-based treatment for depression in adults with extensive research supporting its effectiveness. It is important to investigate whether it may also be effective in treating young people. Included studies reported reductions in depression scores across a range of measures following BA. BA may be an effective treatment of depression in young people.

Indexed as

Outcome Assessment, Health CareAdolescentBehavior TherapyDepressive DisorderHumansAdolescentsbehavioural interventionsdepressionmeta-analysissystematic review

Identifiers

PMID28299896
PMCPMC5697579

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.