Development of group psychotherapy in China: A review from bibliometric perspective / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To figure out the development status of group psychotherapy and its problems and trends in China.Methods:Properties and contents,intervention programs and methods of 386 chosen articles from key journals of psychology and Doctor & Master Thesis in the group psychotherapy area were examined with bibliometric analyses and content analysis.Result:It showed a fast increase in properties and contents for the last 15 years.The proportion of clinical and sub-clinical study was 1 ∶ 4.Totally 53.9％ of studies focused on anxiety and depression,89.4％ were quantitative studies and 86.9％ were effect studies.As for the intervention programs,36.5％ were CBT,90.0％ were short-term treatment group below 12 times,35.6％ were lack of details in introductions and 67.8％ had other missing descriptions of group leader.As for the methods,34.9％ of participants were undergraduates,experimental (34.9％) and comprehensive (44.6％) methods were dominant,and difference test (58.3％) was most widely used statistical analysis.The self-report effect evaluation accounted for about 91.4％,and the follow-up studies were less than 22％.Totally 42.9％ of studies were lack of ethical consideration.Conclusion:The status of group psychotherapy in China is still in its early developmental phase,which need further standardization and improvement.