Within-Group Effect-Size Benchmarks for Problem-Solving Therapy for Depression in Adults

Abstract

This article provides benchmark data on within-group effect sizes from published randomized clinical trials that supported the efficacy of problem-solving therapy (PST) for depression among adults. Benchmarks are broken down by type of depression (major or minor), type of outcome measure (interview or self-report scale), whether PST was provided to elderly participants in poor health, and whether an intent-to-treat analysis was conducted. Practitioners can compare these benchmarks to their effect size in providing PST with depressed clients as a basis for deciding whether the way they are adopting or adapting this intervention is satisfactory or needs to be modified or replaced by a different intervention approach. These benchmarks also have potential utility for future implementation research on PST for depression.