A meta-analysis of the effects of different interventions for depression in the Asia workplace

Abstract

A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effectiveness of interventions for depression in the Asia workplace. Nineteen studies reported in eighteen articles were included, with a total sample size of 3,325 subjects. They were all working adults representing different industry sectors in Asia, including Healthcare, Education, Manufacturing, Service, Real Estate, Government and the General working population. The included studies covered five Asian countries and regions, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea. Interventions were coded as Cognitive-behavioral, Multimodal, Alternative, Organizational, and Strength-based, which were delivered face-to-face or mediated by computer or telephone. In the present study, the pooled mean effect size for all studies indicated by the standard difference in means (Cohen’s d) is 0.417 (95% CI [0.257, 0.576], p < .0001), which showed an overall moderate and statistical significant effect of workplace interventions for depression of the Asia working population. Effect sizes ranged from 0.011 to 1.369 among the nineteen studies. Heterogeneity with the potential presence of moderators was suggested by the high I^2 value of 76.69%. Subgroup analyses on the division by country/region, industry sector, and type of intervention had yielded significant moderating effect, while the moderator analyses of study design and medium of intervention delivery were statistical non-significant. Within the sample of studies, Cognitive-behavioral interventions and Alternative interventions were found to have a significant and small to moderate effect on workplace depression. Besides, the workplace interventions yielded significant effect in the Healthcare, Education, and General sectors. In Hong Kong, the workplace intervention effect was found to be significantly larger than that in Japan, which implied differences across countries and regions for further exploration.