Psychiatrists at the University of Bristol are taking an ambitious programme of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) into schools from Bristol to Santiago, Chile in a bid to improve the mental health of teenagers.
CBT has been shown to prevent young people from developing mental health problems by giving them skills which help promote positive thinking, coping and problem solving.
The Santiago project, which has secured £550,000 funding from the Wellcome Trust, is the first school-based trial to improve the mental health of teenagers in Latin America. The study will involve 20 schools and approximately 2,000 low-income pupils across the city of Santiago. Pupils will attend 14 sessions based on the adaptation of cognitive-behavioural models used successfully in Western countries.
Professor Ricardo Araya of Bristol University’s Academic Unit of Psychiatry who is leading the project said: “Depression is common and can have devastating effects on the lives of adolescents. Psychological interventions are the first-line for treating or preventing depression among young people. This study aims to improve their mental health by helping them develop a robust approach to the challenges of life.“
The UK project, led by Professor Paul Stallard at the University of Bath, has been awarded £1.25 million by the NHS to carry out research on 13-16-year-olds from schools in Bath, Bristol, Nottingham, Swindon and Wiltshire. The study, part of the NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme (HTA), involves Professor Araya, Professor Glyn Lewis and Dr Alan Montgomery from Bristol University along with colleagues at the Universities of Bath and Nottingham and the Peninsula Medical School.
Professor Glyn Lewis said: “This programme will teach pupils, as part of their lessons in Personal Social & Health Education (PSHE), how to acknowledge their personal strengths, identify negative thought processes and develop problem solving skills. It will be delivered in 10 weekly classroom sessions and its effects will then be compared with current PSHE lessons.”