Transdiagnostic REBT Prevention Program for Adolescents

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Anxiety and depressive disorders are common in adolescents, however they are often unrecognized. Rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is efficient for children and adolescents. School settings are appropriate environments to deliver such interventions for vulnerable youths. Given youth's access and predilection to use technology, a video-based prevention program was developed. The present study aims to investigate the efficacy of a transdiagnostic REBT prevention program for internalizing symptoms in adolescents, implemented in a school setting. Classes from different Romanian public schools will be randomized in either intervention or wait list group.

Detailed Description
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The prevention program will be group-based, delivered in 6 sessions, over 3 weeks. Each of the six modules aimed a different component: Psychoeducation, Relaxation, Relationship between cognitive distortions/irrational beliefs and emotions, Cognitive restructuring, Exposure/ behavioral activation and problem solving, Maintenance of gainings. Despite specific activities, for each session a video cartoon on that subject will be viewed and discussed. Homework would be given at every session. REBT prevention programs delivered in school settings represent ecological modalities to target vulnerable groups. Technology components added to traditional programs may lead to greater motivation and satisfaction with treatment. Adolescents will complete assessments at four time-points: T1 (baseline), T2 (post-intervention), T3 (3 months follow-up) and T4 (12 months follow-up).

Official Title
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The Efficacy of a Video-based Transdiagnostic REBT Universal Prevention Program Delivered in a School Context for Internalizing Problems in Adolescents

Conditions
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Social Anxiety, Major Depression Mild, Panic Disorder, Specific Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: video-based transdiagnostic REBT
* Behavioral: Wait list


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Preadolescents and adolescents will have ages between 12 and 17 years old; Are attending middle school or high-school; Adolescents have sufficient understanding of the Romanian language in order to complete assessments at all time points and to participate in the prevention program; Their parents have sufficient understanding of the Romanian language in order to sign the informed consent; Parents will sign the informed consent and adolescents will provide informed assent. Exclusion Criteria: Age below 14 or above 17 years; No signed informed consent from parents; Adolescents will score high on suicidal ideation according to (1 item on the Depression subscale from Beck Youth Inventories); Not Romanian-speaking in order to understand the content of the prevention program and to complete the assessments.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 12 Years
Maximum Age: 17 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: video-based transdiagnostic REBT<br>Children and adolescents in the experimental group attend 6 modules of video-based transdiagnostic rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT). Each of the six modules aimes a different component: Psychoeducation, Relaxation, Relationship between cognitive distortions/irrational beliefs and emotions, Cognitive restructuring, Exposure/ behavior activation and problem solving, Maintenance of gaining. | Behavioral: video-based transdiagnostic REBT<br>* The video-based transdiagnostic REBT consists of 6 sessions delivered in a group format.<br>|
| Sham Comparator: wait list<br>The wait-list is a delayed treatment condition. | Behavioral: Wait list<br>* Delayed intervention<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC; March, Parker, Sullivan, Stallings, & Conners, 1997) | anxiety symptoms | Change from baseline anxiety symptoms at 3 weeks post-intervention, 3 months follow up, 12 months follow-up | 
| Beck Depression Inventory for Youth subscale from the Beck Youth Inventories-Second edition for children and adolescents (Beck, 2005) | depressive symptoms | Change from baseline depressive symptoms at 3 weeks post-intervention, 3 months follow up, 12 months follow-up | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The Children's Automatic Thoughts Scale - Negative/Positive (CATS-N/P) (Hogendoorn et al., 2010) | maladaptive cognitions | Change from baseline maladaptive cognitions at 3 weeks post-intervention, 3 month follow up, 12 months follow-up | 
| The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1997) | comorbid problems | Change from baseline comorbid problems at 3 weeks post-intervention, 3 months follow up, 12 months follow-up | 
| The Questionnaire for Measuring Health-Related Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents, The Revised Version - adolescent version (Kiddo-KINDL) (Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2001) | quality of life | Change from baseline quality of life at 3 weeks post-intervention, 3 months follow up, 12 months follow-up | 
| The Credibility/ Expectancy Questionnaire (Devilly & Borkovec, 2000) | Treatment expectancies | pre-intervention | 
| The Client Satisfaction Scale (Vigerland et al., 2016) | Satisfaction with the intervention | post-intervention | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, internalizing symptoms