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Targeted school based intervention to improve depressive symptoms among at risk Chilean adolescents

Targeted school based intervention to improve depressive symptoms among at risk Chilean adolescents: a randomized controlled trial

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ISRCTN
Registry ID
ISRCTN33871591
Enrollment
300
Registered
2011-06-29
Start date
2010-08-01
Completion date
Unknown
Last updated
2016-10-17

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Depressive symptoms Mental and Behavioural Disorders Depression

Interventions

1. The intervention was based on a cognitive-behavioural therapy model, delivered to targeted students in a pre-defined school room 2. The program consisted of 8 weekly sessions each lasting 45 minut

Sponsors

University of the Andes (Universidad de los Andes) (Chile)
Lead Sponsor

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Adolescents attending Second secondary grade in state schools (ages 13 to 18 years) 2. State schools located in Santiago of Chile 3. Adolescents with depressive symptoms over a cut-off score: in boys > 10 and in girls > 15

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: Does not meet inclusion criteria

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
1. Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) was was to assess depressive symptoms and to determine recovery rate: percentage of students included in the study who had lower than 11 points for boys and lower than 16 points for girls 3 months after completing the intervention 2. This is a brief and well-established depression questionnaire translated to different languages and used widely throughout the world 3. It has previously been used among adolescents in Chile and in other Latin-American countries showing good psychometric properties 4. It is self-completed which has the advantage of reducing potential observer bias since it is unlikely that observers will be completely blind to allocation 5. The BDI- II also provides a good measure of the cognitive changes expected to occur with the intervention

Secondary

MeasureTime frame
1. Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS): this is an adaptation of the Spence Child Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and intends to assess symptoms of DSM-defined anxiety disorders and major depression 2. The scale consists of 47 items that on the basis of exploratory factor analysis are allocated to six subscales: 2.1. Social phobia (9 items) 2.2. Panic disorder (9 items) 2.3. Major depressive disorder (10 items) 2.4. Separation anxiety disorder (7 items) 2.5. Generalized anxiety disorder (6 items) 2.6. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (6 items) 3. Items have to be scored on a 4 point scale 4. RCADS subscale scores can be obtained by summing across relevant items 5. We excluded the depression and separation anxiety sub-scales because these were either covered by other scales or irrelevant to students of this age 6. School records of academic performance: we will only use grades obtained through formal testing because these are standardised across schools 7. Other assessments: 7.1. Measures of psychological functioning: Children?s Automatic Thoughts Scale (CATS)This self completed scale assesses a range of negative self statements in children and young people aged 7-16. For each item the child is asked to rate whether they have had a similar thought over the past week. Each item is rated as ?not at all? (scores 0), ?sometimes? (scores 1), ?fairly often? (scores 2), ?often? (scores 3) or ?all the time? (scores 4) 7.2. Confirmatory factor analysis identified 4 distinct but correlated factors relating to thoughts about physical threat, social threat, personal failure and hostility. Internal consistency for the total score was high (Cronbach Alpha=0.95) with acceptable test ?retest reliability (0.79). The scale has been found to effectively discriminate between a community and clinical sample with the personal failure sub-scale being the strongest predictor of depressive symptoms. The 10 item personal failure sub-scale will be used. 7.3. The Short Form of the Social P

Countries

Chile

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Mar 12, 2026