Cognitive Behavioral Intervention and Adventure Training for Chinese University Students in Hong Kong

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Interventions: Other: adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention

• Registration Number: NCT04560348
• Lead Sponsor: Hong Kong Baptist University

Brief Summary

This study developed an adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention program for Hong Kong university student. The program effectiveness was evaluated in reducing psychological distress and improving mental health of university 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. Single group Pre-posttest 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.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2015-09-01
• Primary Completion: 2018-08-31
• Study Completion: 2018-08-31
• Status Verified: 2020-09
• Study First Submitted: 2020-09-09
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-09-17
• Last Update Submitted: 2020-09-17
• Study First Posted: 2020-09-23
• Last Update Posted: 2020-09-23

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 193

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: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention	adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention	An adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention program An 13-session adventure-based cognitive behavioral intervention program, including 6 lectures, 5 workshops and adventure games, and one adventure day camp (2 sessions). One session per week, 3 hours for each session. A variety of cognitive behavioral skills are taught in lectures and these skills are 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. The adventure training includes a day adventure camp and five 40-minute adventure games in the beginning of each workshop. Skill briefing, case demonstration and debriefing, group sharing and discussion, in-class exercise and homework are used in the intervention program.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
General Health Questionnaire-12	3-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

Name	Time	Method
Perceived Stress Scale	3-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
Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire	3-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
Beck Depression Inventory	3-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 symptions
Beck Anxiety Inventory	3-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
Chinese Affect Scale	3-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