A meta-analytic analysis of effects of psychoeducational interventions on length of postsurgical hospital stay

Forty-nine studies of the relationships between brief psychoeducational interventions and the length of postsurgical hospitalization are reviewed using meta-analysis. Results show that interventions reduce hospital stay about 1 1/4 days and that reduction does not depend on whether the studies were published or not, whether the discharging physician was aware of the patient's experimental condition, or whether studies were lacking in internal validity. The interventions' effects on length of hospital stay are distinctly smaller in more recent studies, with analysis suggesting current treatments incorporate fewer components than earlier studies. Lesser effects are also found when the treatment is compared with a placebo-treatment group rather than a usual-care control group. This may be because placebo procedures often include educational and socially supportive components that constitute part of the psychoeducational interventions under review. The present study, providing a more stable foundation than previously available, supports the belief that brief psychoeducational interventions may be cost effective with surgical patients of many kinds because the length of hospital stay is reduced.