Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) in the United Kingdom: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of 10‐years of practice‐based evidence

Objectives Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is a national‐level dissemination programme for provision of evidence‐based psychological treatments for anxiety and depression in the United Kingdom. This paper sought to review and meta‐analyse practice‐based evidence arising from the programme. Design A pre‐registered (CRD42018114796) systematic review and meta‐analysis. Methods A random effects meta‐analysis was performed only on the practice‐based IAPT studies (i.e. excluding the clinical trials). Subgroup analyses examined the potential influence of particular methodologies, treatments, populations, and target conditions. Sensitivity analyses investigated potential sources of heterogeneity and bias. Results The systematic review identified N = 60 studies, with N = 47 studies suitable for meta‐analysis. The primary meta‐analysis showed large pre‐post treatment effect sizes for depression (d = 0.87, 95% CI [0.78–0.96], p