Rural and remote populations have a high burden of depression and poorer access to mental healthcare services than their urban counterparts. This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of psychological and pharmacological treatments on reducing depression specifically in rural and remote residents. Cochrane Library, Medline, PsycInfo, Embase and Scopus, and two clinical trial registries were searched. Included studies were randomised or cluster randomised trials conducted with rural and remote adult populations
examined the effectiveness of any treatment for depression
included a control group or comparator
measured depression
and were published in English. Two authors independently screened records for eligibility, extracted information from eligible studies and assessed risk of bias and certainty of evidence. Seventeen studies were included. Meta-analyses found a small benefit of behavioural activation therapy (standardised mean difference -0.43, 95% CI -0.78, -0.08, I