title: Behavioural activation for depression: efficacy, effectiveness and dissemination.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Depression being a prevalent psychobiological disorder across the world, there is a need to identify effective, evidence-based treatments that are time and cost-effective in an effort to increase the population's accessibility to treatments. Low-intensity interventions, such as guided self-help treatments, hold promise for the dissemination of evidence-based treatments. Behavioural activation, a component of cognitive-behavioural therapy, is receiving increasing attention and empirical support as a stand-alone psychological treatment for depression. This article reviews behavioural activation's theoretical foundations and efficacy in light of determining its potential as a low-intensity intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review of articles on low-intensity behavioural activation interventions for depression was conducted using the PsychInfo, Medline and Embase databases. Behavioural activation's potential for dissemination as a guided self-help treatment is discussed and future avenues of research are stressed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Studies on the efficacy of behavioural activation as a guided self-help treatment are very limited to date and there are significant variations among existing studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the research literature, it can be concluded that behavioural activation could be a viable option as a low-intensity guided self-help psychological treatment for mild to moderate depression. Further research is required to better understand the optimal parameters and client-therapist characteristics of this form of low-intensity intervention.
authors.affiliation: École de Psychologie, 2325, rue des Bibliothèques, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada G1V 0A6. isabelle.soucy.9@ulaval.ca
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Soucy Chartier
authors.forename: Martin D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Provencher
mesh_terms: D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome