The Effectiveness of a CA-CBI on Psychological Distress of University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Condition: Psychological Distress; Well-being
MeSH terms: COVID-19
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The effectiveness study for Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioral Intervention will be
      conducted with university students to measure if this intervention if effective for
      decreasing the university students' psychological distress and increase their well-being
      during the COVID-19 pandemic. Potential participants will be given an informed consent and
      included in a screening procedure to decide their eligibility. 100 participants (50 in
      experimental and 50 in control group-randomly assigned) who pass the screening procedure will
      be invited to the effectiveness study. The experimental group will receive an 8-session
      intervention while the control group will receive information about the freely available
      psychological support options. The measurements will be conducted three times; one week
      before, one week after and five weeks after the intervention.
    

Detailed description: 
      Rapid increase in the COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 related deaths were followed by several
      precautions including the daily usage of masks, social distancing, temporary closure of work
      places, government departments, schools and universities. Due to these adversities and
      necessary precautions, people experience psychological distress and symptoms of depression
      and anxiety during the pandemic. Research shows that university students are at risk for
      developing psychological distress and common mental health disorder symptoms, and providing
      psychological interventions for university students may decrease the mental health problems
      of the students. However, considering the social distancing, these interventions must be
      delivered online. There are some studies indicate that online interventions may be effective
      as face-to-face interventions. Considering the mental health support need that the university
      students have during COVID-19, addressing this need may be beneficial for the mental health
      of university students in these uncertain times. There are various studies that showed the
      effectiveness of various form of interventions and one of them is Culturally Adapted
      Cognitive Behavioral (CA-CB) intervention developed by Hinton. CA-CB interventions were
      tested with adolescents and women in Turkey and found to decrease the psychological symptoms
      of these people. CA-CB interventions are based on the cognitive behavioral approach's
      principles but also include emotion regulation techniques, mindfulness and stretching
      exercises.

      The investigators propose to conduct a randomized controlled trial in which they aim to apply
      a preventive culturally adapted cognitive behavioral intervention (CA-CBI) which is adapted
      to university students and COVID-19 related stressors. After the adaptation process is
      completed, the investigators will distribute an online survey to university students for the
      recruitment. The university students who would like to participate in the intervention study
      and are eligible to participate will be included. The investigators will randomly assign them
      into two arms (control and CA-CBI) and then deliver CA-CBI in a group format to the
      intervention arm. The investigators will examine whether the psychological distress levels
      and common mental health problems of the students in the intervention arm is decreased
      compared to the control arm. The investigators will examine the study outcomes of the both
      arms at three times: Pre-assessment (1 week before the intervention), post-assessment (1 week
      after the intervention) and follow-up assessment (1 month after the post-assessment). A
      process evaluation according to the WHO will be completed with 5 study completers, 5
      drop-outs and 2 facilitators to evaluate the feasibility of delivering CA-CBI.

      Although the CA-CBI was delivered in Turkey to different populations before, it was not
      tested with university students yet. In addition, there are scarce publications on the online
      delivered group interventions and to our knowledge, there is neither such research conducted
      during the pandemic nor research about the efficacy of online synchronous interventions in
      Turkey. The investigators will contribute to the literature by adapting CA-CBI to the
      university students who are affected from COVID-19. In addition, they will also add to the
      literature on online interventions by delivering CA-CBI online in a group format.
    

Intervention name(s): Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CA-CBI)
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): CA-CBI is an intervention based on Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CA-CBT) which was developed by Devon Hinton. This transdiagnostic intervention has a structured manual which can be culturally adapted and it will be used to decrease psychological distress and increase well-being by targeting cognitive and behavioral changes.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Culturally adapted; Covid-19; Psychological distress; University students; Well-being; Online intervention