A META-ANALYSIS ON THE TREATMENT EFFICACY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS FOR SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER (SAD)

Abstract

This meta-analysis aims to investigate and compare the levels of treatment efficacy between seven main psychological treatment interventions for Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). A literature search was conducted on Google Scholar, NUS e-library and ScienceDirect, which identified 32 randomised controlled studies examining 3,191 patients with SAD. All studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and examined two or more treatment groups to a waitlist/control group. Multiple effect sizes were calculated by between-group comparisons (treatment group versus control group), which were fitted into a three-level meta-analysis model to account for the dependency of effect sizes within studies. Treatment efficacy was examined by comparing between the seven treatment strategies, treatment formats (group versus individual), treatment types (individual versus combination), and length of treatment duration, on four dependent variables ? domain-specific subjective distress, general subjective distress, behavioural measures and cognitive measures. A three-level meta-regression model was used to the analyse the effects of these factors on treatment outcomes to address the five main hypotheses. Results suggested that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Exposure Therapy (EXP), and Psychodynamic Therapy (PDT) demonstrate relatively higher levels of treatment efficacy across the four dependent variables, alongside group treatment format, individual treatment type and longer treatment duration, in the treatment of SAD. Lastly, several limitations and implications for future research were discussed.