Strategies to implement psychological interventions for common mental disorders: a systematic review

Background

Brief psychological interventions are key to addressing the care gap in common mental disorders, yet their effective implementation relies on well‑defined strategies, which are rarely reported systematically. This study aimed to map and analyse implementation strategies that support the adoption, maintenance, and scale‑up of brief psychological interventions for adults with common mental disorders.

Methods

The protocol is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024565192), and the study followed PRISMA guidelines. We searched PubMed, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Cochrane and Web of Science (inception–March 2025) for primary studies of community-delivered psychological interventions. Two reviewers screened records, extracted data, and coded all 73 implementation strategies, organised into 9 thematic clusters using the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) taxonomy.

Results

Of 12,536 records, 85 studies were included, predominantly from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, most evaluating Problem Management Plus (N = 35) and Thinking Healthy Programme (N = 14). Most studies were formative (N = 49) or summative (N = 28) trials, with only eight addressing scale‑up. Predominantly, studies reported 14 ERIC strategies most often from the domain “Train and educate stakeholders” and „Adapt and tailor to context”, followed by “Use evaluative and iterative”, and “Develop stakeholder interrelationships”. Strategies within “Utilise financial strategies”, “Change infrastructure”, and “Support clinicians” were rarely employed.

Conclusions

Implementation efforts for lay‑delivered brief psychological interventions rely mainly on training, adaptation, and stakeholder relationships, with limited use of other strategies that could enhance implementation success. ERIC taxonomy appears better suited to clinician‑focused, facility‑based care than to community‑based delivery, highlighting the need to develop a portfolio of implementation strategies that reflect community settings.

Key messages

• Implementation of brief psychological interventions in communities relies mainly on training, adaptation, and partnerships rather than on diverse strategy use.

• Current implementation frameworks may not fully fit community-based, lay-delivered care; new context-specific strategies are needed.