Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Conditions
Keywords
Chinese university student, mental health, adventure training
Brief summary
This study developed an adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention program for Hong Kong university student. The program effectiveness was evaluated in reducing psychological distress and improving mental health of university students. The 3-month maintenance effect was also tested.
Detailed description
University students are vulnerable to mental health problems due to the various challenges they have to face in university life. However, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of university counseling programs in Hong Kong. This project aims at developing and systematically evaluating a culturally adapted and adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention (aCBI) program to decrease psychological distress and improve various mental health outcomes for Chinese university students in Hong Kong. The aCBI program was delivered in a form of general education course in a university setting. Single group Pre-posttest design was adopted.The program was evaluated its effectiveness in reducing psychological distress, perceived stress, depressive and anxiety symptoms, negative thoughts and negative emotions and increasing positive thoughts and positive emotions.
Interventions
The adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention is a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and adventure training. The intervention program is delivered in a 39-hour general education course in a public university in Hong Kong. The program includes 6 lectures, 5 workshops, 5 adventure games and an adventure day camp. Students are divided into two groups in workshop to practise CBT skills to deal with their own issues.
Sponsors
Hong Kong Baptist University
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
Single group pre-posttest design
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* be of Chinese nationality * be studying in undergraduate programs at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), as the aCBI program will be provided in the form of a general education course at this university * have GHQ-12 scores of 2-10 (0-0-1-1) (i.e., mild to moderate levels of psychological distress) * be willing to complete the entire process of the project.
Exclusion criteria
* have GHQ-12 scores of 0-1 (i.e., a low level of psychological distress) or 11-12 (i.e., a high level of psychological distress) * have one or more psychosis * have experienced severe depression with suicidal attempts/ideation in the past 3 months, as diagnosed by a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| General Health Questionnaire-12 | baseline: before the intervention program starts | 12-item rating scale for psychological distress, scale score ranges from 0-12, with a higher score indicating a higher level of psychological distress |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Perceived Stress Scale | baseline: before the intervention program starts | 10-item rating scale for perceived stress, scale score ranges from 0-4, with a higher score indicating a higher level of perceived stress |
| Beck Depression Inventory | baseline: before the intervention program starts | 21-item rating scale for depressive symptoms, scale score ranges from 0-63, with a higher score indicating a higher level of depressive symptions |
| Beck Anxiety Inventory | baseline: before the intervention program starts | 21-item rating scale for anxiety symptoms, scale score ranges from 0-63, with a higher score indicating a higher level of anxiety symptoms |
| Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire | baseline: before the intervention program starts | 14-item rating scale for positive and negative automatic thoughts, score ranges from 1-5 for the positive thought subscale and negative thought subscale, with a higher score indicating a higher level of positive/negative thought |
| Chinese Affect Scale | baseline: before the intervention program starts | 20-item rating scale for positive and negative emotions, score ranges from 1-6 for positive emotion subscale and negative emotion subscale, with a higher score indicating a higher level of positive/negative emotion |
Outcome results
None listed