The aim of the present study was to review the effectiveness of psychological and/or educational interventions for reducing psoriasis severity and improving psychological and quality of life (QOL) outcomes in psoriasis. Sixteen papers met the inclusion criteria. Overall, the effectiveness of the existing interventions from this narrative synthesis is positive, especially in psychological and QOL outcomes. Of the 16 included studies, only five were randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The strength of the evidence to support the effectiveness of the existing interventions was limited due to methodological weakness in the included studies. The review concludes that further research is needed to examine the effectiveness of psychological and/or educational interventions for individuals with psoriasis, including a greater number of RCTs in order to increase the methodological validity of intervention studies. Also, future research needs to be conducted to establish which interventions are most effective for specific sub-populations who may best profit from psycho-educational interventions.
Keywords: educational interventions; narrative review; psoriasis; psychological interventions.
© 2014 Japanese Dermatological Association.