Effectiveness of Recovery-Oriented Mental Health Nursing Interventions in Improving Quality of Life and Functional Outcomes Among Patients With Severe Mental Illness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Recovery-oriented mental health care extends treatment beyond symptom control toward participation, everyday functioning, autonomy, and quality of life (QoL). Mental health nurses are central to many recovery-oriented services, yet the effectiveness of nursing-relevant interventions for people with severe mental illness (SMI) remains uncertain.
Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis followed PRISMA 2020. Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science were searched for studies published from 2016 to 2026; no abstract or full-text availability filter was applied in PubMed. Randomized, cluster-randomized, quasi-experimental, and quantitative intervention studies were eligible when they evaluated a recovery-oriented intervention with an identifiable nursing component and reported QoL or functional outcomes. Random-effects synthesis used Hedges’ g with modified Hartung–Knapp inference.
Results: The searches identified 2,321 records: 632 from Scopus, 977 from PubMed, and 712 from Web of Science. After 872 duplicates were removed, 1,449 unique records were screened; 22 reports were assessed and 10 studies were included. Two included studies provided additional narrative evidence: a community psychiatric-nursing Illness Management and Recovery study reported better social/global functioning, and a nurse-facilitated inpatient recovery-education evaluation reported improved patient-perceived QoL. Three comparative studies were sufficiently compatible for functional meta-analysis. The pooled effect favored recovery-oriented care (Hedges’ g = 0.34), but uncertainty was substantial (95% CI −0.24 to 0.91; p = .129; I² = 0%). QoL was synthesized narratively because measures and estimands were heterogeneous.
Conclusion: Recovery-oriented nursing interventions show a promising but uncertain functional benefit. Stronger trials with explicit nursing roles, standardized outcomes, and complete effect reporting are needed.