Meta-analysis of counseling and psychotherapy outcome studies in Taiwan

This study applied the meta-analysis method to investigate the effectiveness of counseling and psychotherapy. It began with a systematic search of the literature through computer search and previous narrative reviews to locate counseling and psychotherapy outcome studies conducted in Taiwan between January 1971 and August 2000. Salient characteristics of each study were recorded systematically. These study characteristics included type of therapy, type of target problem, therapist experience, and type of outcome measure, among others. In total, 257 studies, which yielded 302 effect sizes, were examined, in which clients who received psychotherapy or counseling were compared with controls. Results demonstrated that the overall mean effect of counseling and psychotherapy was positive and significant. Further categorical model testing indicated that most coded study characteristics were significantly related to effect sizes.