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Improving Mental Health of Chinese University Students in Hong Kong: Adventure-based Cognitive Behavioural Intervention

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Adventure-based Cognitive Behavioral Intervention
Interventions
Other: adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention
Registration Number
NCT04998890
Lead Sponsor
Hong Kong Baptist University
Brief Summary

This study delivered an adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention program to a group of Hong Kong university students. The program effectiveness was evaluated by a randomized controlled trial in reducing psychological distress and improving mental health of these students. The 3-month maintenance effect was also tested.

Detailed Description

University students are vulnerable to mental health problems due to the various challenges they have to face in university life. However, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of university counseling programs in Hong Kong. This project aims at developing and systematically evaluating a culturally adapted and adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention (aCBI) program to decrease psychological distress and improve various mental health outcomes for Chinese university students in Hong Kong. The aCBI program was delivered in a form of general education course in a university setting. Randomized controlled trial (RCT) design was adopted. The program was evaluated its effectiveness in reducing psychological distress, perceived stress, depressive and anxiety symptoms, negative thoughts and negative emotions and increasing positive thoughts and positive emotions.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
458
Inclusion Criteria
  • be of Chinese nationality
  • be studying in undergraduate programs at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), as the aCBI program will be provided in the form of a general education course at this university
  • have GHQ-12 scores of 2-10 (0-0-1-1) (i.e., mild to moderate levels of psychological distress)
  • be willing to complete the entire process of the project.
Exclusion Criteria
  • have GHQ-12 scores of 0-1 (i.e., a low level of psychological distress) or 11-12 (i.e., a high level of psychological distress)
  • have one or more psychosis
  • have experienced severe depression with suicidal attempts/ideation in the past 3 months, as diagnosed by a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Adventure-based cognitive behavioral interventionadventure-based cognitive behavioral interventionAn adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention program A 13-session adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention program, including 6 lectures, 5 workshops and adventure training (one adventure day camp (2 sessions) and adventure activities in the beginning of each workshop). One session per week, 3 hours for each session. A variety of cognitive behavioral skills were taught in lectures and these skills were practiced in two groups (with appropriately 20 students in each group) in workshop to help students to apply these skills to cope with their own daily life stress. Skill briefing, case demonstration and debriefing, group sharing and discussion, in-class exercise and homework were used in the intervention program.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
General Health Questionnaire-123-month follow-up test: 3 months after completion of the intervention program

12-item rating scale for psychological distress, scale score ranges from 0-12, with a higher score indicating a higher level of psychological distress

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Perceived Stress Scale3-month follow-up test: 3 months after completion of the intervention program

10-item rating scale for perceived stress, scale score ranges from 0-4, with a higher score indicating a higher level of perceived stress

Beck Depression Inventory3-month follow-up test: 3 months after completion of the intervention program

21-item rating scale for depressive symptoms, scale score ranges from 0-63, with a higher score indicating a higher level of depressive symptoms

Beck Anxiety Inventory3-month follow-up test: 3 months after completion of the intervention program

21-item rating scale for anxiety symptoms, scale score ranges from 0-63, with a higher score indicating a higher level of anxiety symptoms

Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire3-month follow-up test: 3 months after completion of the intervention program

14-item rating scale for positive and negative automatic thoughts, score ranges from 1-5 for the positive thought subscale and negative thought subscale, with a higher score indicating a higher level of positive/negative thought.

Chinese Affect Scale3-month follow-up test: 3 months after completion of the intervention program

20-item rating scale for positive and negative emotions, score ranges from 1-6 for positive emotion subscale and negative emotion subscale, with a higher score indicating a higher level of positive/negative emotion

Chinese Making Sense of Adversity Scale3-month follow-up test: 3 months after completion of the intervention program

12-item rating scale for measuring sense-making coping, score ranges from "1" = "totally disagree" to "6" = "totally agree", with a higher score indicating a higher level of sense-making coping.

Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale3-month follow-up test: 3 months after completion of the intervention program

25-item rating scale for measuring resilience, score ranges from "1" = "not true at all" to "5" = "true all the time". All the Item scores are summed up as a total score, with a higher score indicating greater resilience.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Jiayan Pan

🇭🇰

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

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