Co-therapy in work with couples and families - Protocol for a systematic review

Summary

The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs has commissioned to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) a systematic review on the effects of and experiences with the use of co-therapy, as opposed to one therapist, in the treatment or mediation with couples and families. Outcomes of interest are e.g., level of conflict, agreement, quality of the relations, and the experiences of couples/families and therapists/mediators.

We will perform a systematic search for relevant studies in databases and other relevant sites. Studies must answer the research question and have suitable study design. Screening, data extraction, and quality assessment will be done by an independent pair of researchers. We will summarize the quantitative results statistically or narratively. The qualitative findings will be synthesized thematically.  We will assess certainty in the results using the GRADE and GRADE-CERQual approaches. 

If we include few studies of effect or few qualitative studies, we will expand the systematic review to also include a mapping of all empirical studies of co-therapy for couples or families, regardless of study design and research question.

The report will be handed The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs turn of the year 2022-23 at the latest (delayed because of other urgent comissions).