Abstract
Behavioural Activation (BA) treatment effectively reduces symptoms of depression in adults and is more cost-effective than more complex therapies. Two recent systematic reviews of BA for depression in young people highlighted the need for more studies in this area. In order to evaluate the acceptability of BA treatment for adolescents with depression and the feasibility of conducting a trial of this intervention in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), 22 patients from across three sites were randomised to BA or usual CAMHS care. Existing CAMHS staff were trained to deliver the manualised intervention via a brief course. Following treatment, young people and their parents/carers were asked to complete a feedback survey. Symptoms and functioning were assessed at 3- and 6-month follow-up. The trial was registered with the ISRCTN Registry (ref: ISRCTN52147450; https://www.isrctn.com/). Recruitment targets were achieved through screening large numbers of CAMHS service users. Intervention adherence by the participating adolescents was high (median number of completed BA sessions was seven out of a total of eight). There were tentative suggestions of improvements following treatment; a large change in a positive direction for the BA group, but not for usual care, was observed by visual comparisons of mean scores on measures of depression, self-esteem and functioning. No adverse events were reported. The findings suggest that BA in this setting is acceptable and warrants evaluation via a fully powered randomised controlled trial.
Highlights
Depression in young people is common, long-lasting and disabling; often being associated with educational absenteeism and underachievement, substance use and abuse, violence, poor reproductive and sexual health outcomes, self-harm and/or suicidality (Birmaher et al, 1996; Finning et al, 2019; Thapar, Collishaw, Pine, & Thapar, 2012)
Behavioural Activation (BA) is a time-limited, collaborative psychotherapy, informed by behaviour theory. This is based upon the concept that depression results from a loss of positive reinforcementthat is, experiences that result in reward make repetition of the action more likely (Kanter, Busch & Rusch, 2009)
We explored the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a trial of BA for adolescents with depression within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
Summary
Behavioural Activation (BA) treatment effectively reduces symptoms of depression in adults and is more cost-effective than more complex therapies. Methods: In order to evaluate the acceptability of BA treatment for adolescents with depression and the feasibility of conducting a trial of this intervention in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), 22 patients from across three sites were randomised to BA or usual CAMHS care. Existing CAMHS staff were trained to deliver the manualised intervention via a brief course. The brief, manualised BA treatment for young people affected by depression in UK CAMHS was acceptable to the participants receiving the intervention. The BA intervention could be delivered by a variety of staff in this setting, following a brief training course and with appropriate supervision. The results from this study suggest that BA is promising, this treatment approach needs to be evaluated in this population via a fully powered randomised controlled trial in order to answer questions about effectiveness
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
