The efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy and advocacy interventions for women who have experienced intimate partner violence: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Figures & data

Table I. Description of search terms.

Database	Time-frame of search	Key words	Limitations applied
MEDLINE	1990 to 30 April 2013	Key words for intervention: intervention studies, clinical trial, evaluation studies, behaviour therapy, cognitive therapy, behaviour control, counselling, substance abuse treatment centres, treatment outcome, therapy (subheading), disease management, health promotion, prevention and control (subheading), brief psychotherapy, advocacy intervention Key words for IPV: domestic violence, battered women, spouse abuse (MeSH terms), family violence, intimate partner violence	Human, women, 18 years or older, RCT
PsycINFO	1990 to 30 April 2013	Key words for intervention: behaviour modification, behaviour therapy, clinical trials, cognitive behavioural therapy, cognitive therapy, group intervention, group psychotherapy, harm reduction, intervention, prevention, primary mental health prevention, treatment, advocacy interventions Key words for IPV: intimate partner violence, partner abuse	Human, women, 18 years or older, journal article
Scopus	1989 to 2014	Key words for intervention: intervention studies, evaluation studies, clinical trial, behaviour therapy, cognitive therapy, behaviour control, counselling, substance abuse treatment centres, treatment outcome, therapy, health promotion, brief intervention, advocacy interventions Key words for IPV: intimate partner violence, domestic violence, family violence, battered women, spouse abuse, partner abuse	Human, women, 18 years or older
Cochrane Library	1990 to 30 April 2013	Key words for intervention: interventions Key words for IPV: intimate partner violence and domestic violence
Clinical Trials	1990 to 30 April 2013	Key words for intervention: intervention studies, evaluation studies, cognitive behaviour therapy, prevention and control, advocacy intervention, brief psychotherapy Key words for IPV: intimate partner violence	Women, 18 years or older

Table II. Summary of trials.

Table II. (Continued)

Table II. (Continued)

Table II. (Continued)

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Table II. (Continued)

Table II. (Continued)

Figure 1. Flow chart for the selection of eligible studies. IPV = intimate partner violence; RCT = randomized control trial; IG = intervention group; CG: control group. *Three trials reported four manuscripts.

Table III. Risk of bias summary of advocacy and CBT interventions: review of authors’ judgements about each risk of bias item for each included study. + (Green): yes (low risk of bias), ? (Yellow): unclear, − (Red): No (high risk of bias).

Figure 2. Physical, psychological, sexual, and any IPV: efficacy of advocacy and CBT interventions versus usual care. Weights are from fixed effects analysis. CI = confidence interval; SMD = standard mean differences.

Figure 3. Funnel plot: physical violence, psychological violence, sexual violence, any IPV.

Table IV. Efficacy of advocacy and CBT interventions versus usual care grouping by follow-ups and intensity of interventions.

Type of violence, follow-up, and no. of sessions	Advocacy interventions				CBT interventions
	SMD	95% CI	Participants (n)		SMD	95% CI	Participants (n)
Physical IPV			Exp.	Cont.			Exp.	Cont.
Follow-up, months
< 6	–0.11	–0.26, 0.04	357	355	–0.15	–0.62, 0.31	46	43
> 6	–0.12	–0.29, 0.04	296	288	–0.78^a	–1.32, –0.25	29	29
Total	–0.08	–0.17, 0.01	653	643	–0.42	–0.77, –0.07	75	72
No. of sessions
< 5	0.00	–0.19, 0.19	212	213	Not estimable^b
> 5	–0.23	–0.39, –0.06	306	300	–0.79	–1.23, –0.33	45	47
Total	–0.13	–0.25, –0.00	518	513	–0.79	–1.23, –0.33
Psychological IPV
Follow-up, months
< 6	–0.07	–0.24, 0.09	286	285	–0.29	–0.73, 0.16	46	43
> 6	–0.04	–0.18, 0.10	396	388	–0.74 ^a	–1.27, –0.21	29	29
Total	–0.06	–0.16, 0.05	682	673	–0.47	–0.81, –0.13	72	72
No. of sessions
< 5	–0.46 ^a	–0.85, –0.08	51	55	Not estimable ^b
> 5	–0.21	–0.39, –0.03	235	230	–0.80	–1.25, –0.36	45	47
Total	–0.26	–0.42, –0.09	286	285	–0.80	–1.25, –0.36	45	47
Sexual IPV
Follow-up, months
< 6	Not estimable ^b				Not estimable ^b
> 6	Not estimable ^b				Not estimable ^b
No. of sessions
< 5	Not estimable ^b				Not estimable ^b
> 5	Not estimable ^b				Not estimable ^b
Any IPV
Follow-up, months
< 6	Not estimable ^b				0.08	–0.08, 0.24	628	627
> 6	Not estimable ^b				0.13 ^a	–0.19, 0.44	93	96
Total					0.09	–0.05, 0.23
No. of sessions
< 5	Not estimable ^b				0.11	–0.03, 0.25	705	705
> 5	Not estimable ^b				0.83 ^a	–0.13, 1.80	16	18
Total					0.12	–0.02, 0.26

^aOnly one study included.

^bNot estimated: lack of studies for grouping.

Exp.: Participants allocated to experimental group; Cont.: Participants allocated to control group.