SynthesisBMC psychiatry2021
Effectiveness of arts interventions to reduce mental-health-related stigma among youth: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Film education and art therapy for mental health in college students: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions to Reduce Mental Health Stigma in Young People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- Community Street Play Versus Facility-based Screening for Mental Health Literacy in Rural India: A Mixed-methods Quasi-experimental Study.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Changes in resting-state functional connectivity between large-scale brain networks after an intensive arts intervention for adolescents with depression.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- The Impact of a Creativity Camp Intervention on Depression and Well-Being in Adolescents.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Digital media balance and mental health: effects of a school-based program.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
- Changes in mental health during participation in Art Pharmacy: a longitudinal study of a U.S. arts-based social prescribing program.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Challenges and enablers of collaborative working in the voluntary, community, social, faith and enterprise sector: impact, effectiveness, and sustainability.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Exploring the use of art interventions in challenging stigmas related to neurological disorders: A scoping review.PloS one · 2026Article
- A quasi-experimental study on a co-production- and school-based psychosocial well-being program in Hong Kong.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Evaluating the Usability, Acceptability, User Experience, and Design of an Interactive Responsive Platform to Improve Perinatal Nurses' Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward Substance Use in Pregnancy: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR human factors · 2025Article
- Elite athlete initiatives in school mental health: crafting an art-based educational methodology for promoting mental health help-seeking.Discover mental health · 2025Article
- "Young People Come to Youth Workers First": A Mixed Methods Evaluation of the Role of Youth Workers in Youth Psychosis Detection.Early intervention in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Creative arts-based interventions for the improvement of PTSD symptoms in young people: a meta-analysis with a focus on non-Western populations.Nature. Mental health · 2025Article
- Impact, feasibility, and acceptability of CREATORS: An arts-based pilot intervention to reduce mental-health-related stigma among youth in Hyderabad, India.SSM. Mental health · 2024Article
- Acting and Dancing during the COVID-19 Pandemic as Art Therapy for the Rehabilitation of Children with Behavioural Disorders Living in Socially Disadvantaged Environments.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Social domains of poor mental health: A qualitative pilot study of community stakeholders' understanding and demarcation of mental illness and its interpretations in rural Nigeria.Health science reports · 2024Article
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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 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEducational interventions engage youth using visual, literary and performing arts to combat stigma associated with mental health problems. However, it remains unknown whether arts interventions are effective in reducing mental-health-related stigma among youth and if so, then which specific art forms, duration and stigma-related components in content are successful.
methodsWe searched 13 databases, including PubMed, Medline, Global Health, EMBASE, ADOLEC, Social Policy and Practice, Database of Promoting Health Effectiveness Reviews (DoPHER), Trials Register of Promoting Health Interventions (TRoPHI), EPPI-Centre database of health promotion research (Bibliomap), Web of Science, PsycINFO, Cochrane and Scopus for studies involving arts interventions aimed at reducing any or all components of mental-health-related stigma among youth (10-24-year-olds). Risk of bias was assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Data were extracted into tables and analysed using RevMan 5.3.5.
resultsFifty-seven studies met our inclusion criteria (n = 41,621). Interventions using multiple art forms are effective in improving behaviour towards people with mental health problems to a small effect (effect size = 0.28, 95%CI 0.08-0.48; p = 0.007) No studies reported negative outcomes or unintended harms. Among studies using specific art forms, we observed high heterogeneity among intervention studies using theatre, multiple art forms, film and role play. Data in this review are inconclusive about the use of single versus multiple sessions and whether including all stigma components of knowledge, attitude and behaviour as intervention content are more effective relative to studies focused on these stigma components, individually. Common challenges faced by school-based arts interventions included lack of buy-in from school administrators and low engagement. No studies were reported from low- and middle-income countries.
conclusionArts interventions are effective in reducing mental-health-related stigma to a small effect. Interventions that employ multiple art forms together compared to studies employing film, theatre or role play are likely more effective in reducing mental-health-related stigma.
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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.