Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled before-and-after studies were eligible for inclusion in the review. All of the included studies were RCTs.
Specific interventions included in the review
Self-help was defined as a therapeutic intervention administered through text, audiotape, videotape or computer text, or through group meetings or individual exercises such as 'therapeutic writing', which was designed to be conducted predominantly independently of professional contact. The comparative arm was usual primary care in most studies, although one used an additional 'advice-only' group and another compared three levels of contact with a project worker and had no 'usual care' arm.
Participants included in the review
Patients with disorders involving significant anxiety and depressive symptoms were included in the review. Trials were included that used recruitment through the general practitioner or the screening of patients attending primary care. The majority of the participants in the studies in the review were female, and the average age ranged from 35.5 to 53 years. The participants were suffering from anxiety, anxiety and depression, stress or chronic fatigue.
Outcomes assessed in the review
The authors do not specify any inclusion and exclusion criteria relating to the outcomes. The outcome measures used in the primary studies were psychiatric symptoms, satisfaction, fatigue, physical functioning, coping, medication use, locus of control, knowledge of anxiety management, patient-rated outcome, consultations, anxiety and prescriptions. All of the outcomes were self-report, apart from health care utilisation and one assessor-rated scale.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
Two independent reviewers made judgements concerning eligibility, and any disagreements were resolved by discussion or by contact with authors. It was not stated whether the reviewers were blinded to the results and/or source.