Psychotherapy to treat consequences of interpersonal violence suffered during childhood and adolescence in Latin America: A systematic review

Abstract

Introduction/Objective: As in the rest of the world, in Latin America there is a high prevalence of interpersonal violence (IV) in childhood and adolescence, which is associated with psychological consequences in the short, medium and long term. At the international level, progress has been made in the recognition of evidence-based psychotherapies, but the situation in Latin America is unknown. The objective of this systematic literature review is to identify which psychotherapy models or modalities have been shown to be effective in Latin America. Methods: A systematic search of five databases was carried out with search terms relating to psychosocial interventions of people exposed to IV during childhood, based in Latin America. Studies regarding Latino populations based in United States were excluded. Results: 14 papers describing 13 studies and one follow-up were identified. Individual and group interventions (mainly cognitive-behavioural and with psychodynamic influence) were included. Although all showed clinically or statistically significant changes in symptoms of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression, most were pilot studies with important methodological limitations and a high risk of bias. Conclusions: It is necessary to develop clinical practice in Latin America with more robust research (i.e., controlled and randomised clinical trials) that produce more reliable evidence regarding the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for IV involving children and adolescents in the Latin American context.