Interventions to build resilience among young people A literature review

girls with elevated
depressive symptoms.
school
11–15 years
M = 13.3 years
98% Dutch
group.
Findings indicate that the CBT component
of OVK effectively reduces depressive
symptoms in the short term and possibly
prevents the development of a clinical
depression
Anticich et al.
(2013)
Brisbane, Australia
To examine the
effectiveness of the Fun
FRIENDS program, a
school-based, universal
preventive intervention
for early childhood
anxiety and promotion
of resilience delivered
by classroom teachers
14 schools were randomly assigned to
one of three groups: the intervention
(IG), active comparison (CG) and waitlist
control group (WLG). Assessments
at pre-, post- and 12-month followup.
Fun FRIENDS is a developmentally
appropriate downward extension of
the FRIENDS for Life program. The
primary components of the program
include relaxation, cognitive
restructuring, attention training and
graded exposure to anxiety-provoking
situations and problem solving, which
are facilitated by peer and family
support. The program actively
involves parents, teachers and
children to promote skill acquisition
and reinforcement of skills across
contexts. Delivered by trained
teachers – one session per week over
10 weeks plus two booster sessions. 2
parent sessions.
N = 488 - 159
IG, n = 196 CG,
133 WLG
4–7 years
Parent-rated
Anxiety and
behavioural
inhibition (BI)
Resilience
(Devereux Early
Childhood
Assessment
Clinical Form)
Social and
emotional
functioning
Behaviour
difficulties
Parental stress
and anxiety
Teacher rated
Social and
emotional
strength
Comparable results were obtained for the
intervention and comparison groups;
however, the intervention group (IG)
achieved greater reductions in BI, child
behavioural difficulties and improvements
in social and emotional competence.
Significant improvements in parenting
distress and parent–child interactions
were found for the IG, with gains
maintained at 12-month follow-up.
Teacher reports revealed more significant
improvement in social and emotional
competence for the IG.
III-1
(schools
volunteered,
then
randomly
assigned)
Gerson et al. (2013)
USA
To test a brief threesession
program to build
resilience (protection
from depressive
symptoms) and thriving
(positive growth) in
undergraduates by
Study 1: pre-test–post-test waiting
list control experiment
Study 2: placebo control experiment
Study 1: Program for Accelerated
Thriving and Health (PATH) consisted
of 3 x 60–90 min meetings over 3
weeks to build an adaptive
Study 1
28
undergraduates
(15 PATH & 13
waitlist control)
Characteristics
provided for initial
optimistic and
personal control
explanatory styles
(Attributional
Style
Questionnaire
resilience (Beck
Study 1:
PATH significantly increased optimistic
and personal control explanatory styles,
resilience, and thriving
Study 2:
Study 1: II
Study 2: II
Interventions to build resilience among young people: a literature review 60