REBT Intervention Program for Career Decision-making Difficulties in High School Pupils

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Career Decision-making Difficulties; Worry; Psychological Distress
• Interventions: Behavioral: Regular Career Intervention; Behavioral: REBT Career Intervention

• Registration Number: NCT03807895
• Lead Sponsor: Babes-Bolyai University

Brief Summary

Career decision-making difficulties are frequent problems for adolescents. Regular intervention or prevention programs mainly provide information for the students about themselves, about the world of work, about their interests and preferences etc. Rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), a form of Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) provides help for adolescents to efficiently cope with emotional problems (e.g., psychological distress) related to the career decision-making process. The present study aims to investigate the efficiency of an REBT career intervention program implemented in a school setting. School settings are appropriate to deliver group intervention for students. Classes from Romanian public high-schools will be randomized in either intervention or treatment as usual groups.

Detailed Description

The intervention will be group based, delivered in 8 sessions, over 8 weeks. Each of the eight modules aimed a different component: Psychoeducation, Information about self and world of work, Steps of career decision-making, Problem solving. Additionally, for the REBT groups: Relationship between cognitive distortions/irrational beliefs and emotions, Cognitive restructuring, Exposure/behavioral activation and emotional problem solving, Maintenance of gaining. Homework would be given at every session. REBT intervention programs delivered in school settings represent ecological modalities to target vulnerable groups. Adolescents will complete assessments at four time points: T1 (baseline), T2 (post-intervention), T3 (3 months follow-up) and T4 (6 months follow-up).

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2018-10-01
• Study First Submitted: 2019-01-15
• Study First Submitted QC: 2019-01-16
• Study First Posted: 2019-01-17
• Primary Completion: 2019-01-30
• Study Completion: 2019-04-01
• Status Verified: 2019-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2019-08-27
• Last Update Posted: 2019-08-28

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 235

Inclusion Criteria

• Adolescents will have ages 16 years to 19 years (11th grade at high school).
• Are attending high school.
• Parents will sign the informed consent and adolescents provide informed assent.

Exclusion Criteria

• Age below 16 or above 19 years.
• No signed informed consent from the parents.
• Uninterpretable answers on the validation items of the CDDQ (items nr. 7 and 12)

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Regular Career Intervention	Regular Career Intervention	High-school students in the treatment as usual group attend to eight modules of career intervention with regular career intervention techniques. The eight modules aim a different component: Psychoeducation, Information about the self and the world of work, Steps of Decision making, Problem solving, Planning, Goal Setting.
REBT Career Intervention	REBT Career Intervention	High-school students in the experiment group attend to eight modules of career intervention with rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT) techniques. The eight modules aim a different component: Psychoeducation, Information about the self and the world of work, Steps of Decision making, Relationship between cognitive distortions/irrational beliefs and emotions, Cognitive Restructuring, Exposure/behavior activation and problem solving, Planning, Goal Setting.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ; Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996)	Change from baseline career decision-making difficulties up to 24 weeks	Measure of career decision-making difficulties.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Beck Depression Inventory for Youth (BDI-Y; Beck, 2005)	Change from baseline depression, anxiety up to 24 weeks	Measure of depression of adolescents.
Emotional Distress Profile (PDA; Opris & Macavei, 2005)	Change from baseline distress up to 24 weeks	Measure of positive emotions, negative functional and negative dysfunctional emotions.
Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-C; Chorpita et al., 1997)	Change from baseline worry up to 24 weeks	Measure of worry for children and adolescents.
Beck Anxiety Inventory for Youth (BAI-Y; Beck, 2005)	Change from baseline anxiety up to 24 weeks	Measure of anxiety of adolescents.
Career Decision-making Self-Efficacy Short Form (Betz et al., 1996)	Change from baseline career decision-making self-efficacy up to 24 weeks	Measure of career decision-making self-efficacy.
General Attitudes and Beliefs Scale Short Form (GABS-SF; Lindner et al., 1999)	Change from baseline irrational beliefs up to 24 weeks	Measure of Irrational Beliefs.
Multidimensional Life Satisfaction (Seligson, Huebner, & Valois, 2003)	Change from baseline life satisfaction up to 24 weeks	Measure of five areas of life satisfaction.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Babes-Bolyai University; 🇷🇴 Cluj-Napoca, Romania