Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST): protocol for a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial of open-access psychological workshop programme for 16–18-year-olds

BESST Study Collaborators

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Abstract

Anxiety and depression are increasingly prevalent in adolescents, often causing daily distress and negative long-term outcomes. Despite the significant and growing burden, less than 25% of those with probable diagnosis of anxiety and depression are receiving help in England. Significant barriers to help-seeking exist in this population, with a scarcity of easily accessible, effective, and cost-effective interventions tailored specially for this age group. One intervention that has been shown to be feasible to deliver and with the promise of reducing stress in this age group is a school-based stress workshop programme for 16–18-year-olds (herein called DISCOVER). The next step is to rigorously assess the effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness, of the DISCOVER intervention in a fully powered cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT). If found to be clinically and cost-effective, DISCOVER could be scaled up as a service model UK-wide and have a meaningful impact on the mental health of adolescents across the country. Trial registration: ISRCTN registry ISRCTN90912799. Registered with ISRCTN 28 May 2020.

Original languageEnglish
Article number935
JournalTrials
Volume23
Issue number1
Early online date9 Nov 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme (project reference NIHR127951). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. The funder has no role in study design, data collection, analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the research reports. There are no financial or other competing interests for the principal investigators for the overall trial and each study site.

Funding

This project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme (project reference NIHR127951). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. The funder has no role in study design, data collection, analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the research reports. There are no financial or other competing interests for the principal investigators for the overall trial and each study site. The authors thank the BESST Study Collaborators: Ayesha Sheikh, Cerise Johnson-Moore, Chloe Payne-Cook, Farwa Batool, Jodie Lord, Monika Slusarczyk, Ruth Braidwood, and Zamena Farishta.

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • Anxiety
  • CBT
  • Depression
  • Schools

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Pharmacology (medical)

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