Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37022312›Full record

ArticleAustralasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists2023

More smoke and mirrors: Fifteen further reasons to doubt the effectiveness of headspace.

Stephen R Kisely, Tarun Bastiampillai, Stephen Allison, Jeffrey Cl Looi

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Australasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Transdiagnostic Clinical Staging in Youth Mental Health: A primer for clinical practice.Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999) · 2025
    Review
  2. Ethical challenges in contemporary psychiatry: an overview and an appraisal of possible strategies and research needs.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Stephen R KiselySchool of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; Departments of Psychiatry, Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada; Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Policy and Research Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-4021-2924
Tarun BastiampillaiConsortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Poilicy Research and Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia; College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-6931-2913
Stephen AllisonCollege of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Poilicy Research and Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-9264-5310
Jeffrey Cl LooiConsortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Poilicy Research and Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia; Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, The Australian National University School of Medicine and Psychology, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, ACT, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-3351-6911

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveCommentary on the debate concerning the effectiveness of headspace, including the most recent independent evaluation of its services.

conclusionsThe available evaluations indicate that headspace does not deliver therapy of adequate duration that results in clinically significant improvement. Most evaluations have used either short-term process measures or uncontrolled satisfaction surveys, and where there have been data on outcomes using standardised instruments, findings have been disappointing. Costs are poorly quantified and probably underestimated. Even so, headspace as a primary care intervention costs twice as much as a mental health consultation by a general practitioner and, depending on the assumptions, may not be cost effective.

Indexed as

EmotionsMental HealthCost-Benefit AnalysisCost-Effectiveness AnalysisHumansReferral and Consultationcost effectivenessevaluationHeadspaceoutcome measures

Identifiers

PMID37022312
PMCPMC10251450

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.