Psychosocial interventions for adults with visible differences: A systematic review
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Evidence Based Medicine, Nursing, Psychiatry and Psychology
- Keywords
- Psychosocial, narrative synthesis, Cognitive-behavioural therapy, Social skills training, Visible differences
- Copyright
- © 2014 Norman et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2014. Psychosocial interventions for adults with visible differences: A systematic review. PeerJ PrePrints 2:e617v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.617v1
Abstract
Background: Some individuals with visible differences have been found to experience psychosocial adjustment problems that can lead to social anxiety and isolation. Various models of psychosocial intervention have been used to reduce social anxiety and appearance related distress in this population. The objective of this review was to update a previous systematic review assessing the efficacy of psychosocial intervention programs for adults with visible differences. The original review (Bessell & Moss, 2007) identified 12 papers for inclusion. Methods: A search protocol identified studies from 13 electronic journal databases. Methods: Studies were selected in accordance with pre-set inclusion criteria and relevant data were extracted. Results: This update identified an additional four papers that met the inclusion criteria. Two papers provided very limited evidence for the efficacy of a combined cognitive-behavioural and social skills training approach. None of the papers provided sufficient evidence for the optimal duration, intensity or setting of psychosocial interventions for this population. Discussion: The review concluded that a greater number of Randomised Controlled Trials and experimental studies were required to increase the methodological validity of intervention studies.
Author Comment
This is an update to a previously published systeamtic review of psychosocial interventions for adults with visible differences. The original review is published in Body Image Journal, Bessell & Moss 2007