Abstract
This study investigates the effectiveness of the school-based Shine Through Any Roadblocks (STAR) CBT intervention, by a screening conducted on 634 students from eight secondary schools in Malaysia. Participants (n = 85) who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were assigned randomly to either the intervention group (n = 42) or the assessment-only waitlist control group (n = 43). The intervention consisted of eight group-based sessions over a period of 2 months. Sessions were 60-min each and conducted according to the STAR module. Outcome measures (depressive symptoms and automatic negative thoughts) were administered at five intervals: baseline/pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, 1-month after intervention, and 3-months after intervention. Results showed significant and lasting lower levels of depressive symptoms and automatic negative thoughts in the intervention group, indicating that the STAR intervention could be an effective means of reducing depressive symptomatology among adolescents. Clinical implications for the Malaysian secondary school context are further discussed.
Highlights
Adolescent mental health has become a major public health concern worldwide
This study probed into the effectiveness of the Shine Through Any Roadblocks (STAR) school-based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) module, with initial screening via crosssectional questionnaire survey in Phase 1, and followed by an intervention study through experimental design that compared the intervention group with wait-list control group in Phase 2
The findings suggest that the outcome indicators have answered the research question by highlighting that the schoolbased STAR CBT intervention could successfully manage depressive symptomatology and automatic negative thoughts among adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms
Summary
Adolescent mental health has become a major public health concern worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 350 million individuals worldwide suffer from depression [6]. Reducing adolescent depression, could have major benefits for overall mental health world-wide [7,8,9]. Adolescent depression is a strong predictor of the frequency and severity of depression in adulthood [5, 12]. It is a strong predictor of suicide attempts [13], learning difficulties [14], identity development [15] and risky behaviors [16]
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