The Use and Outcomes of Compassion-Focused Group Interventions With Children and Adolescent Clinical Populations: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis

Research has investigated the outcomes of compassion-focused therapy for adult populations, with systematic reviews and meta-analyses supporting its effectiveness. Comparatively, the literature investigating compassion-focused interventions for child and adolescent populations is less developed, with fewer empirical studies to date. Most existing literature on compassion interventions has been in a group context. A systematic review was conducted to explore the state of the evidence base for compassion-focused groups used with child and adolescent clinical populations. This narrative synthesis aimed to review the methodological quality and outcomes of the published and unpublished literature. Ovid, Scopus, EBSCO and ProQuest platforms were utilised to search databases with studies from the year 2005 onwards. Nine studies were identified, including 138 participants receiving a compassion-focused intervention aged between 11 and 17 years. There was some evidence to suggest that compassion-focused groups have the potential to increase self-compassion and improve the wellbeing of children and adolescents. However, the outcomes were varied, and methodological concerns limited interpretations of results. Additionally, the heterogeneity between studies made it challenging to synthesise the literature and draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of these groups for this population. Future research would benefit from higher quality empirical studies comparing compassion-focused groups to other interventions, alongside a greater consistency in valid outcome measure use across research.