title: A meta-analysis of third wave mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapies for older people.
abstract: The aim of this study is to review the effectiveness of third wave mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs) for depressive or anxiety symptomatology in older adults across a wide range of physical and psychological conditions.
  
  
  
  Electronic literature databases were searched for articles, and random-effects meta-analysis was conducted.
  
  
  
  Ten studies met the inclusion criteria, of which nine reported the efficacy of interventions on depressive symptoms and seven on anxiety symptoms. Effect-size estimates suggested that mindfulness-based CBT is moderately effective on depressive symptoms in older adults (g = 0.55). The results demonstrated a similar level of overall effect size for anxiety symptoms (g = 0.58). However, there was a large heterogeneity, and publication bias was evident in studies reporting outcomes on anxiety symptoms, and thus, this observed efficacy for late-life anxiety may not be robust. The quality of the included studies varied. Only one study used an active psychological control condition. There were a limited number of studies that used an intent-to-treat (last observation carried forward method) analysis and reported appropriate methods for clinical trials (e.g., treatment-integrity reporting).
  
  
  
  Third wave mindfulness-based CBT may be robust in particular for depressive symptoms in older adults. We recommend that future studies (i) conduct randomized controlled trials with intent-to-treat to compare mindfulness-based CBT with other types of psychotherapy in older people and (ii) improve study quality by using appropriate methods for checking treatment adherence, randomization, and blinding of assessors. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kishita
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki Hospital, Miyazaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takei
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D064866:Mindfulness
keywords: acceptance and commitment therapy; anxiety; depression; mindfulness; mindfulness-based cognitive therapy