Impact of theatre interventions on mental health: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Theatre interventions such as psychodrama are increasingly being used to help individuals with mental health conditions. Previous findings provided mixed results on the impact of theatre interventions for reducing psychological symptoms. Given the growing use of theatre interventions, it is important to investigate their impact on specific mental health conditions. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to examine the impact of theatre interventions on mental health outcomes and suicidality.

The review was prospectively registered on The International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42021212666), and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines for reporting. Embase, ProQuest Central, PsycInfo, PubMed and Scopus were searched. All English-language studies examining the impact of theatre interventions and on mental health outcomes and/or suicidality were included.

In total, 42 papers met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 21 studies were included in meta-analyses that found significant reductions in standardised mean change using raw score standardisation symptoms of anxiety (k=10; -0.45 (95% CI -0.71 to -0.19)) depression (k=16; -0.79 (95% CI -1.07 to -0.51)) and post-traumatic stress disorder (k=6; -0.82 (95% CI -1.21 to -0.42)) among adult participants of theatre intervention studies. Results from studies excluded from meta-analyses indicated that theatre interventions helped reduce symptoms of schizophrenia and psychosis for adults and lowered the risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt among adolescents. Most studies had a high/serious risk or some concerns about bias.

Theatre interventions may be useful to help reduce symptoms of mental health conditions. Further high-quality research is necessary to build on the existing evidence and to assess both the short- and long-term impacts of theatre interventions on mental health outcomes.