Cognitive-Behavioral Skills Building to Alleviate the Mental Health Effects of Bullying Victimization in Youth

The benefits of an offline to online cognitive behavioral stress management regarding anxiety, depression, spiritual well-being, and quality of life in postoperative intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma patients

AIM

Cognitive behavioral stress management (CBSM) has been introduced for the postoperative cancer management, but its application in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is rare. This current study constructed an offline to online CBSM (OO-CBSM) program and applying multiple assessing scales, aiming at exploring the benefits of OO-CBSM regarding anxiety, depression, spiritual well-being, and quality of life (QoL) in postoperative ICC patients.

METHODS

The study randomly assigned 68 postoperative ICC patients into OO-CBSM (N = 34) and normal care (NC) (N = 34) groups to undergo 10-week interventions. Hospital anxiety-and-depression scale (HADS), Zung's self-reporting anxiety scale (SAS), and depression scale (SDS), functional-assessment of chronic-illness therapy-spiritual well-being scale (FACIT-Sp), European quality-of-life-5 dimensions (EQ-5D), and quality-of-life questionnaire-core30 (QLQ-C30) were assessed within 6 months (M).

RESULTS

HADS-anxiety scores at M3 (P = 0.049) and M6 (P = 0.009), SAS score at M6 (P = 0.028), HADS-depression score at M3 (P = 0.043), and SDS scores at M3 (P = 0.044) and M6 (P = 0.028), were lower in the OO-CBSM group versus the NC group. Meanwhile, FACIT-Sp scores at M1 (P = 0.042) and M6 (P = 0.003) were higher in the OO-CBSM group over the NC group. Besides, EQ-5D scores at M3 (P = 0.067) and M6 (P = 0.087) disclosed trends to be lower in the OO-CBSM group versus the NC group, but not statistically significant. QLQ-C30-global-health scores at M3 (P = 0.049) and M6 (P = 0.033), and QLQ-C30-function score at M6 (P = 0.046), were higher in OO-CBSM group over NC group; but QLQ-C30-symptom score was not significantly different at any timepoints between them.

CONCLUSION

OO-CBSM attenuates anxiety and depression, and advances spiritual well-being and QoL in postoperative ICC patients, indicating its potency for the ICC postoperative management.

An Adaptation of the COPE Intervention for Adolescent Bullying Victimization Improved Mental and Physical Health Symptoms

OBJECTIVE

One in five children report experiencing bullying. Bullying in childhood affects the physical and emotional health and functioning of youth with immediate consequences, including depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, and suicidal ideation. Schools overwhelmingly are tasked with addressing bullying; however, school-based programs are often focused on preventing bullying from occurring. There is a paucity of evidence-based interventions for adolescents who have directly experienced bullying and suffer from adverse health outcomes, especially when they present to the mental health setting.

METHODS

This pre-experimental study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of the MINDSTRONG to Combat Bullying Program for adolescents who have experienced bullying with concurrent mental health symptoms.

RESULTS

Twenty adolescents and their parent dyads enrolled in the MINDSTRONG to Combat Bullying program. Significant reductions were found over time in adolescent self-reported depressive, anxiety and somatic symptoms as well as bullying victimization frequency, with large positive effect sizes for the intervention. Significant increases in adolescent personal beliefs also were found.

CONCLUSIONS

Although several of the intervention sessions needed to be rescheduled and many of the adolescents did not complete their weekly skills building homework, MINDSTRONG to Combat Bullying was found to be a highly acceptable intervention for adolescents that was effective in reducing physical and mental health symptoms as well as perceptions of bullying victimization.

Internet-delivered cognitive processing therapy for individuals with a history of bullying victimization: a randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to test an internet-delivered version of cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for the psychological distress associated with bullying victimization. The sample comprised 52 adults (i.e. 69.20% women; mean age = 43.37 (SD = 12.47); 3.85% ethnic minority) who self-identified as having a lifetime history of bullying victimization. Participants were randomized into three groups, which received 12 sessions of internet-delivered, therapist-guided, and content-modified version of CPT, 12 sessions of internet-delivered and therapist-guided stress management (SM), or a waitlist. Treatment outcomes included maladaptive trauma appraisals, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, general anxiety and stress, social anxiety, and anger. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyse the data. Findings indicated that CPT was effective in reducing the strength of maladaptive appraisals related to bullying victimization and symptoms of PTSD compared to the waitlist and SM. SM outperformed CPT and the waitlist in reducing symptoms of depression, general anxiety, and stress. In conclusion, the results of this trial suggest that internet-delivered CPT is effective for the psychological distress and maladaptive appraisals associated with bullying victimization but that adaptions might be needed to target more effectively symptoms of anxiety and depression.