ABSTRACT
Objective: The Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Adolescents has been shown to be effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression in adolescents with emotional disorders. The present study aims to assess the effectiveness of Internet-based UP-A in reducing repetitive negative thoughts, improving emotion regulation and social adjustment of adolescents with subclinical features of emotional disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This is a longitudinal randomized clinical trial conducted on 40 adolescents aged 12-17 years with subclinical features of emotional disorder. They were randomly divided into two groups of intervention (n=20) and control (n=20). They first completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale- 21 item (DASS-21) and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-2) online. Then, the intervention group received twelve 45-minute sessions of UP-A through video calls on WhatsApp two days a week. The control group received no treatment. Immediately and 3 months after the intervention, the questionnaires were completed again. The collected data were analyzed using longitudinal marginal modeling. Results: The results of the data analysis indicated that Unified Transdiagnostic Therapy was effective in reducing the sub-clinical symptoms of emotional disorders, repetitive negative thoughts, increasing the use of adaptive strategies and reducing the use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Regarding the social adaptation variable, there was not any effectiveness in the evaluation after the intervention and three months after the intervention. Conclusion: The results of the research represent that the adolescent version of the Unified Transdiagnostic Protocol can be effective in preventing emotional disorders in adolescents.
Subject(s)
Anxiety Disorders , Depressive Disorder , Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities , COVID-19ABSTRACT
This clinical trial aims to assess the effectiveness of internet-based Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Adolescents (UP-A) during the COVID-19 pandemic in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, and psychological flexibility of 40 adolescents with subclinical features of emotional disorder randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. They first completed DASS-21 and AAQ-2 online. Then, the intervention group received 12 sessions of UP-A through video call on WhatsApp, 2 days per week each for 45 minutes. Their stress, anxiety, and depression levels decreased and their psychological flexibility increased immediately and 3 months after the intervention.