Development and validation of a school-based cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention for Malaysian high school students with depressive symptoms

ABSTRACT Depressive symptoms commonly begin in late childhood and early adolescence and, left untreated, can increase in frequency and severity and last through adulthood. Recent estimates of depression rates among Malaysian adolescents have been as high as 24%, suggesting a need for effective intervention measures. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a widely accepted and empirically validated psychological intervention for depression. This project took an existing CBT programme targeting adolescent depressive symptoms and adapted it for use with Malaysian high school students. The resulting eight session school-based “STAR” CBT module was assessed through a pilot study involving 20 Malaysian secondary students (10 intervention and 10 control) who reported clinical levels of depressive symptoms on a screening survey. Results showed lower levels of depressive symptoms, post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention, in intervention but not control groups. Similar results were also found for frequency of automatic negative thoughts. These results indicate that the Malay-language ‘STAR’ CBT protocol could be an effective means of reducing depressive symptoms among Malaysian high school students in school settings.