Publication: Non-specialist delivered psychosocial care after war and interpersonal violence: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated whether psychosocial treatments delivered by non-specialists benefit adults experiencing distress after interpersonal or war-related violence. Synthesizing 45 randomized controlled trials (9,431 participants across 2000–2025), the study examined impacts on depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and functional impairment. Overall, non-specialist-delivered interventions produced small-to-moderate improvements across all four outcomes compared with control conditions, with particularly strong effects among refugees. Benefits were generally consistent across diverse countries, settings, provider types, and treatment approaches, and were especially clear for transdiagnostic interventions. However, effects were weaker or non-significant for veterans and for depression and anxiety among survivors of interpersonal violence, and most trials had some risk of bias. These findings support scaling non-specialist-delivered psychosocial care for violence-exposed populations while highlighting the need to tailor approaches for specific groups.