Mediators and theories of change in psychotherapy with adolescents: a systematic review protocol
Patricia Moreno-Peral,
Marija Raleva,
Sonia Conejo Cerón,
Svenja Taubner,
Andrea Saliba,
Erkki Heinonen,
Sonja Protić,
Jana Volkert,
Asta Adler,
Rasa Barkauskiene,
Dina Di Giacomo,
Yianna Ioannou,
Jose M Mestre,
Filipa Mucha Vieira,
Catarina Pinheiro Mota,
Margarida Isabel Rangel Santos Henriques,
Jan Ivar Røssberg,
Stefanie J. Schmidt,
Tjaša Stepišnik Perdih,
Randi Ulberg,
Célia M D Sales
Affiliations
Patricia Moreno-Peral
Primary Care Prevention and Health Promotion Network (redIAPP), Malaga, Spain
Marija Raleva
Institute for Marriage, Family and Systemic Practice—ALTERNATIVA, Skopje, North Macedonia
Sonia Conejo Cerón
Prevention and Health Promotion Research Network (redIAPP), ISCIII, Málaga, Spain
Svenja Taubner
1 Institute for Psychosocial Prevention, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Andrea Saliba
Mental Health Services Malta, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
Erkki Heinonen
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Sonja Protić
Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade, Serbia
Jana Volkert
3 Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
Asta Adler
Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
Rasa Barkauskiene
Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
Dina Di Giacomo
Department of Life, Health and Enviromental Sciences, University of LAquila, LAquila, Italy
Yianna Ioannou
Department of Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus
Jose M Mestre
Department of Psychology, University of Cadiz, Cadiz, Spain
Filipa Mucha Vieira
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences at University of Porto (FPCEUP), Center for Psychology at University of Porto (CPUP), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Catarina Pinheiro Mota
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences at University of Porto (FPCEUP), Center for Psychology at University of Porto (CPUP), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Margarida Isabel Rangel Santos Henriques
Department of Psychology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Jan Ivar Røssberg
University of Oslo Faculty of Medicine, Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Stefanie J. Schmidt
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Tjaša Stepišnik Perdih
School of Advanced Social Studies, Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Randi Ulberg
Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Célia M D Sales
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences at University of Porto (FPCEUP), Center for Psychology at University of Porto (CPUP), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Introduction Approximately 75% of mental disorders emerge before the age of 25 years but less than half receive appropriate treatment. Little is known about the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic change of adolescents in psychotherapy. The ‘European Network of Individualised Psychotherapy Treatment of Young People with Mental Disorders’, funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology, will conduct the first systematic review to summarise the existing knowledge on mediators and theories of change in psychotherapy for adolescents.Method A systematic review will be conducted, conforming to the reporting guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement recommendations. Electronic databases (PubMed and PsycINFO) have been systematically searched on 23 February 2020, for prospective, longitudinal and case-control designs which examine mediators of change. Participants will be adolescents between 10 and 19 years of age who suffer from a mental disorder or psychological difficulties and receive an intervention that aims at preventing, ameliorating and/or treating psychological problems.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required for this systematic review as no primary data will be collected. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journals and at conference presentations and will be shared with stakeholder groups. The whole data set will be offered to other research groups following recommendations of the open science initiative. Databases with the systematic search will be made openly available following open science initiatives.PROSPERO registration number CRD42020177535.
