A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Recovery Educational Interventions for Mental Health Professionals

The history of mental health care has been marked by various struggles in maintaining the dignity of service users. Some reform movements have started to use educational strategies aimed at the beliefs and attitudes of professionals, as well as changing the way that practice is carried out. This paper intends to systematically review and synthesize studies assessing awareness and training activities for mental health professionals covering aspects related to recovery, empowerment, and in general, rights-based care to achieve full citizenship of mental health services users. We reviewed 26 articles and were able to include 14 of them in meta-analytic calculations. Our results at the qualitative level show an evolution of the literature towards better quality designs and focus on aspects related to the impact and maintenance of the effects of these training activities. Meta-analytic calculations found high heterogeneity but no risk of biases and low-to moderate effect sizes with a statistically significant impact on beliefs and attitudes but not on practices. The importance of this information in improving and advancing these educational activities is addressed.