ReviewJMIR mental health2021
Effectiveness and Feasibility of Internet-Based Interventions for Grief After Bereavement: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Review in JMIR mental health, 2021. 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.
- Effectiveness of grief interventions in underrepresented regions: a systematic review and exploratory meta-analysis.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Pooled it
- The role of technology-based interventions in older adults experiencing spousal bereavement: a systematic review of clinical trials.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The effectiveness of web-based grief intervention for adults who lost a loved one: A systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC palliative care · 2025Pooled it
- The Efficacy of Bereavement Interventions: A Systematic Umbrella Review.Harvard review of psychiatryPooled it
- Writing about the disrupted self: a randomized controlled trial of a structured online expressive writing intervention for bereaved Chinese adults.BMC palliative care · 2026Trial
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of an SMS-Based Brief Contact Intervention for People Bereaved by Suicide.Suicide & life-threatening behavior · 2025Trial
- Testing the Efficacy of a Web-Based Intervention for Loss and Bereavement in Later Life (AgE-health Study): Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Ayahuasca-assisted meaning reconstruction therapy as an early resource for bereavement: a non-randomized clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- A French-Language Web-Based Intervention Targeting Prolonged Grief Symptoms in People Who Are Bereaved and Separated: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR formative research · 2024Trial
- Grief modular group therapy: theoretical bases and pilot study of a new bereavement intervention programme in China.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Feasibility, acceptability and potential effects of internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy for prolonged grief.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Mobile-Based Ecological Momentary Interventions for Grief in China and Switzerland: Protocol for a Collaborative and Iterative Qualitative App Development Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Shifting to online and telephone bereavement support provision during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed methods study of bereavement service provider perspectives and lessons learnt for current practice.Palliative medicine · 2026Article
- Comparing user satisfaction with grief-informed texts to other types of bereavement support in the United Kingdom.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Grief in Children and Adolescents: A Developmentally Informed Clinical Review With Illustrative Cases.Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2026Review
- Acceptability and feasibility of an internet-based intervention for bereaved Chinese with prolonged grief: a mixed methods study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- A 1-year follow-up of the My Grief app for prolonged grief.Journal of traumatic stress · 2025Article
- Internet-Delivered Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (iCBT) for Spanish-Speaking Adults with Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD): A Randomized Feasibility Trial.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Grief, bereavement and prolonged grief disorder: scoping and mapping the evidence.BJPsych open · 2025Review
- Testing the cognitive-behavioral model of prolonged grief disorder (PGD): distinct and shared pathways to PTSD and depression.BMC psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough grief and its symptoms constitute a normal reaction to experiences of loss, some of those affected still report elevated levels of distress after an extended period, often termed complicated grief. Beneficial treatment effects of face-to-face therapies, for example, grief counseling or cognitive behavioral therapy against complicated grief, have been reported. Evaluations of internet- and mobile-based interventions targeting symptoms of grief in bereaved individuals with regard to objective quality criteria are currently lacking.
objectiveWe aim to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness and feasibility of internet- and mobile-based interventions against symptoms of grief after bereavement.
methodsWe conducted systematic literature searches of randomized controlled trials or feasibility studies published before January 9, 2020, following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, in PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, and the Cochrane Library. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations system. We further assessed aspects of feasibility and rated quality of interventions using criteria suggested by an expert panel on mental health care (German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics). A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to assess between-group effect sizes.
resultsIn total, 9 trials (N=1349) were included. Of these, 7 studies were analyzed meta-analytically. Significant effects were found for symptoms of grief (g=0.54, 95% CI 0.32-0.77), depression (g=0.44, 95% CI 0.20-0.68), and posttraumatic stress (g=0.82, 95% CI 0.63-1.01). Heterogeneity was moderate for grief and depression (I
conclusionsInternet- or mobile-based interventions might constitute an effective treatment approach against symptoms of grief in bereaved adults. However, the small sample sizes and limited number of studies included in the review warrant further investigation.
trial registrationInternational Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) CRD42012002100; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=131428.
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