Efficacy of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy on Depression Among Children with Learning Disabilities: Implications for Evaluation in Science Teaching

Depression in persons with disabilities: a scoping review

Individuals with disabilities are more vulnerable to depression development than the general population. This study sought to map the evidence on current knowledge of depression, intervention strategies, and assessment tools among people with disabilities. This review was conducted following Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review methodology framework. An electronic search was performed on four English databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. The original search returned 1802 results, with 1,116 from Web of Science, 626 from PubMed, 25 from Cochrane, and 35 from PsycINFO. After removing duplicates, 786 articles were chosen for the title and abstract screening processes. Finally, 112 full-text publications were deemed eligible, with 41 papers being included in this scoping review for analysis. A large proportion (32; 78.04%) of the studies chosen were cross-sectional, 14 (34.14%) of them reported general disability, 12 (29.26%) used a patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) to measure depression, and 14 (34.14%) had interventions, including cognitive behavioral therapy, psychological counseling, social support, and physical activity. All interventions successfully reduced the severity of the depression. Cognitive behavioral therapies and psychological counseling were widely used interventions that had a significant impact on reducing depression. More randomized controlled trials are required, and they should focus on individuals with specific disabilities to provide disability-specific care that can improve the quality of life for disabled individuals.

Effectiveness of rational emotive behavior therapy in reducing depression among undergraduate medical students

BACKGROUND

Studies reporting the incidence of depression among medical students have been on the increase. This research sought to determine whether rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) can be applied to help manage depression in Nigerian undergraduate medical students.

METHODS

A randomized pretest/posttest control group design was used in this study. Ninety medical students with depression participated in the study and were assisted using the REBT depression manual. Using a mixed-model repeated measures analysis of variance, the researchers examined the intervention data.

RESULTS

The depressive symptoms and its associated irrational beliefs among medical students in the treatment arm were significantly altered by REBT intervention at posttest and this positive outcome was sustained at follow-up in contrast to the control arm.

CONCLUSION

REBT intervention significantly improves medical students' ability to overcome depression and irrational beliefs. Similar studies could be conducted in a variety of academic settings where these students can be found to expand the findings of this study.