Meta-analysis of MFT interventions.
This article briefly reviews 20 meta-analyses of marital and family interventions. These meta-analyses support the efficacy of both MFT for distressed couples, and martial and family enrichment. Those effects are slightly reduced at follow-up, but still significant. Differences among kinds of marital and family interventions tend to be small. MFT produce clinically significant results in 40-50% of those treated, but the effects of MFT in clinically representative settings have not been much studied. The article also introduces the concept of meta-analytically supported treatments (MASTs), which are treatments that meet certain criteria for efficacy in meta-analysis, and which remedy certain problems in the empirically supported treatment (EST) literature. The article concludes with recommendations for doing better meta-analyses.
Shadish
William R
WR
Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, USA. w.shadish@mail.psyc.memphis.edu
Baldwin
Scott A
SA
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000379:methods; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008388:Marital Therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome