University of Twente Student Theses

Haal meer uit je leven: Een gerandomiseerde gecontroleerde studie naar de effectiviteit van een groepscursus gebaseerd op acceptance-based behavioral therapy (ABBT) voor de preventie van depressieve klachten bij studenten

Raanhuis, M.S. (2013) Haal meer uit je leven: Een gerandomiseerde gecontroleerde studie naar de effectiviteit van een groepscursus gebaseerd op acceptance-based behavioral therapy (ABBT) voor de preventie van depressieve klachten bij studenten.

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Abstract:	Background: Mental disorders like major depression are highly prevalent among young adults. Depression reduces quality of life significantly and entails high costs in health care. Although mental disorders are common among young adults, the reach of interventions that focus on reducing psychological (depressive) symptoms is minimal. Attention has to be paid to an accessible way of reaching young adults. In this context, the course “Living to the full” was developed, based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness. Given the positive effects of “Living to the full,” the University of Twente developed a preventive group course named “Get more out of your life,” for students, based on the principles of “Living to the full.” The primary goal of this research is to evaluate the preventive group course “Get more out of your life,” aimed at college and university students with mild to moderate depression or anxiety symptoms, by using a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of depressive symptoms. Methods: A total of 30 college or university students that suffered from mild to moderate depressive and anxiety symptoms were randomly assigned to an experimental group or a wait-list control group. The group course consisted of four sessions of 3,5 hours and were guided by two GZ-psychologists. The participants completed questionnaires prior to the course at baseline measurement (T0) and immediately after the course at post-measurement (T1), to measure depressive symptoms (CES-D), procrastination (GP), mental health (MHC-SF), psychological flexibility (AAQ-II) and mindfulness (FFMQ-SF). Results: The experimental group that followed the group course did not show a greater reduction in depressive symptoms on T1 compared to the wait-list control group. In both experimental and wait-list control group there were significant reductions in terms of depressive symptoms between the pre- and post-test. The experimental group showed a significant increase in psychological flexibility on the post-test compared to the wait-list control group. The ‘get more out of your life’ group scored significantly higher on mindfulness skills ‘conscious action’ compared to the wait-list control group. After attending the group course, the experimental group showed a significant increase in ‘conscious action’ and ‘non-judge.’ For positive mental health it was found that no significant improvement occurred. Conclusion: This research supports the effectiveness of preventive interventions based on ACT and mindfulness in improving psychological flexibility and mindfulness of students with mild to moderate depressive symptoms. It is unclear whether the course contributes to the reduction of depressive symptoms. More research is needed to study the effectiveness of ‘Get more out of your life.’
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	77 psychology
Programme:	Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/63324
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