Designing and revising a cognitive behavioral group intervention for psychological distress among female university students

Background: Psychological distress in the form of depression and/or anxiety has been found to be common among university students, especially in females. Roughly one in five of Icelandic female university students exhibit elevated psychological distress, yet less than 30% of them do receive professional mental health care. To ameliorate the psychological distress a cognitive behavioral group therapy was designed to target the distress. The purpose of this paper is to describe the main steps in designing the respective intervention and the revisions made by the expert panel based on the validation of the preliminary intervention and the experience of the advanced practice psychiatric nurses therapists.Methods: The intervention design took place in four phases. Initially psychological distress was defined, secondly a literature review was conducted to see if there were effective interventions available to solve the problem. Thirdly the drafting of the intervention took place based on theory and evidence and finally the intervention was validated with quantitative and qualitative methods. The intervention was provided by two advanced practice psychiatric nurses in 4 sessions in groups of 5 to 8 females. An expert panel of 6 psychiatric nurses was formed to guide the intervention design, the delivery of the intervention and intervention validation.Results: The quantitative and qualitative validation of the preliminary intervention showed that psychological distress decreased and was acceptable to participants.Conclusions: The validation of the preliminary intervention provided the expert group with rationale for modifying the content and structure of the intervention in nine categories.

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Evaluation of a brief Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy for Psychological Distress among Female Icelandic University Students

Issues in Mental Health Nursing ◽

10.3109/01612840.2013.773473 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 34 (7) ◽

pp. 497-504 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Johanna Bernhardsdottir ◽

Runar Vilhjalmsson ◽

Jane Dimmitt Champion

Keyword(s):

Psychological Distress ◽

Group Therapy ◽

University Students ◽

Cognitive Behavioral ◽

Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy ◽

Behavioral Group

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Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Group Intervention on Acculturation

Research on Social Work Practice ◽

10.1177/1049731516646857 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 68-79 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jia-Yan Pan ◽

Petrus Ng ◽

Daniel Kim-Wan Young ◽

Schoepf Caroline

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Psychological Distress ◽

University Students ◽

Acculturative Stress ◽

Group Intervention ◽

Positive Emotions ◽

Cognitive Behavioral ◽

Positive Effects

Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of group cognitive behavioral intervention (CBI) in improving mental health and promoting postmigration growth for Mainland university students in Hong Kong. Methods: Thirty-six Mainland students with mild-to-moderate levels of psychological distress have completed a 8-session CBI group. Various mental health measures have been administered at the pre-, post-, and 3-month follow-up tests. Results: The levels of psychological distress, acculturative stress, and negative emotions and negative thoughts of the participants were significantly reduced, while their positive emotions and postmigration growth were significantly increased upon completion of the CBI group. The positive effects were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Conclusions: CBI group appears to be an effective intervention approach for improving the mental health and promoting postmigration growth for Mainland university students in Hong Kong. Implications for social work practices when engaging with Chinese international students were provided.

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Brief Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy and Verbal-Exposure-Augmented Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder in University Students: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial

Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1177/02537176211026250 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 025371762110262

Author(s):

Preeti Singh ◽

Narendra Nath Samantaray

Keyword(s):

Anxiety Disorder ◽

Social Anxiety ◽

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy ◽

University Students ◽

Social Anxiety Disorder ◽

Behavioral Therapy ◽

Cognitive Behavioral ◽

Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy ◽

Behavioral Group

Background: Considering the need for developing and examining evidenced-based programs using a brief group format for management of social anxiety disorder (SAD) at the community level, we studied theefficacy of two brief versions of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) programs, brief cognitive-behavioral group therapy (bCBGT), and verbal exposure augmented cognitive behavioral therapy (VE-CBT), on social anxiety among university students. Methods: A single-center, randomized, parallel-group design was adopted. We delivered six weekly two-hour group sessions, bCBGT and VE-CBT, to 41 university students diagnosed with SAD. An independent rater assessed participants using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) and Clinical Global Impression scale-Severity (CGI-S) at baseline, postintervention, and two-month follow-up. A patient-rated measure, Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), was assessed at the same time-points. Results: There was a significant improvement in severity of social anxiety from baseline to posttreatment and baseline to two-month follow-up in both groups. However, the treatment effects in bCBGT were statistically superior to VE-CBT at postintervention (SPIN, P = 0.038; LSAS, P = 0.028; CGI-S, P = 0.036) and follow-up (SPIN, P = 0.006; LSAS, P = 0.01; CGI-S, P = 0.04). Conclusions: Brief CBT treatments, both bCBGT and VE-CBT, are efficacious for SAD among university students. They have the potential to address barriers associated with SAD management. However, we recommend a longer follow-up and replications in diverse settings. Clinical trial registration number: CTRI/2019/11/021954

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