title: Effectiveness of psychoeducation for depression: a systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pharmacological treatment is considered indispensable to major depressive disorder. In spite of this, a significant number of patients do not respond adequately to treatment based only on medication, presenting high relapse and recurrence rates. Therefore, psychosocial interventions, such as psychoeducation, have been increasingly recognized as an essential component in the treatment of depression, associated with pharmacological strategies. Thus, the aim of the present systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of psychoeducation for patients with unipolar depression, analyzing the evidence from the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Searches were undertaken from April to October 2012 in LILACS, PsycINFO, PubMed, SCOPUS and ISI Web of Knowledge with keywords including 'psychoeducation', 'psychoeducational intervention' and 'depression', with no restriction regarding publishing dates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifteen studies were included in the review, 13 of which evaluated the effectiveness of psychoeducation for patients with depression: 10 papers evaluated in-person psychoeducation approaches and three papers evaluated long-distance approaches. In addition to these 13 papers, one evaluated psychoeducational interventions for patients' families and patients' responses and another evaluated psychoeducational interventions for patients' families and families' responses. Findings suggest that increased knowledge about depression and its treatment is associated with better prognosis in depression, as well as with the reduction of the psychosocial burden for the family.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychoeducation is a psychosocial treatment that has been well documented as an adjunct to pharmacological therapy. However, there are only a few studies regarding its effectiveness on adult patients with major depressive disorder. Although the publications in this area are still very limited, the articles selected in this review suggest that psychoeducation is effective in improving the clinical course, treatment adherence, and psychosocial functioning of depressive patients.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mariana Flávia de Souza
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Tursi
authors.forename: Cristiane von Werne
authors.initials: Cv
authors.lastname: Baes
authors.forename: Fabio Ribeiro de Barros
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Camacho
authors.forename: Sandra Marcia de Carvalho
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Tofoli
authors.forename: Mario Francisco
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Juruena
mesh_terms: D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011613:Psychotherapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Depression; psychoeducation; psychoeducational intervention; psychosocial approach; treatment