Effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy in schoolchildren with depressive symptoms in Alexandria, Egypt
D. Habib1 and A. Seif El Din2
فعالية معالجة السلوك المعرفي لدى تلاميذ المدارس المصابين بأعراض اكتئابية في الإسكندرية، بمصر
دعاء حبيب، أميرة سيف الدين
الخلاصـة: تم في إطار هذه الدراسة تقيـيم فعَّالية معالجة السلوك المعرفي لدى تلاميذ المـدارس فـي الفئـة العمريـة 12 – 14 سنة، ممن يعيشون في منطقة ذات مستوى اجتماعي واقتصادي منخفض في مدينة الإسكندرية، بمصر، وذلك خلال العام الدراسي 2003 – 2004. وقد شملت عينة الدراسة 198 من الذكور و136 من الإناث. وتم التقيـيم التلاميذ باستخدام القائمة التفصيلية لتقدير اكتئاب الأطفال، وقائمة كوبر سميث التفصيلية لتقدير الاعتـزاز بالنفس. وبيَّنت الدراسة أن تواتُر (تكرار حدوث) الاكتئاب بلغ 9.6%؛ بواقع 7.1% لدى الذكور، و13.2% لدى الإناث. وقُدِّم علاج للسلوك المعرفي لـ 32 من التلاميذ الذكور المصابين باكتئاب، فقبله 17 تلميذاً منهم فقط حيث تلقّوا 9 جلسات علاجية. وتم تقيـيم هؤلاء التلاميذ بعد 3 أشهر من تلقِّي العلاج باستخدام نفس الأدوات، وبيَّنت وأظهرت فعَّالية قصيرة الأمد للعلاج.
ABSTRACT: We evaluated the effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy for 12–14-year-old schoolchildren from a low socioeconomic area in Alexandria, Egypt during the academic year 2003–04. Our sample comprised 198 boys and 136 girls. Students were assessed using the Child Depression Inventory and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. The frequency of depression was 9.6%; 7.1% in boys and 13.2% in girls. The 32 children with depression were offered cognitive behaviour therapy. Only 17 accepted the offer and received 9 sessions of therapy. They were assessed 3 months after the intervention using the same tools and the results indicate the short-term effectiveness of the therapy.
Efficacité réelle de la thérapie cognitivo-comportementale chez des enfants scolarisés dépressifs d'Alexandrie (Égypte)
RÉSUMÉ: Pendant l'année scolaire 2003-2004, nous avons évalué l'efficacité réelle de la thérapie cognitivo-comportementale chez des enfants de 12 à 14 ans scolarisés, issus d'un quartier socialement et économiquement défavorisé d'Alexandrie (Égypte). Notre échantillon se composait de 198 garçons et 136 filles. L'évaluation de ces élèves a reposé sur l'inventaire de dépression de l'enfant (IDE) de Kovacs, également connu sous le nom d'échelle CDI (pour Child Depression Inventory) et sur l'inventaire d'estime de soi (Self-Esteem Inventory) de Coopersmith. Il a été constaté une fréquence de la dépression de 9,6 %, à savoir 7,1 % chez les garçons et 13,2 % chez les filles. Les 32 enfants dépressifs se sont vu offrir une thérapie cognitivo-comportementale. Seuls 17 d'entre eux ont accueilli favorablement cette offre et ont participé à 9 séances de thérapie. Une évaluation de ces enfants s'appuyant sur les mêmes instruments de mesure et effectuée 3 mois après l'intervention a confirmé l'efficacité réelle à court terme de la thérapie.
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1Child Mental Health Administrator and Psychiatrist, Alexandria, Egypt (Correspondence to D. Habib:
doahabib@yahoo.com). 2Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt. Received: 23/11/04; accepted: 09/08/05
Introduction
Depression in childhood and adolescence is among the commonest and more disabling disorders. It has been reported that childhood depression ranges from 2%–6% among the school-aged population, and it seriously affects childhood and may have serious repercussion in adult life [1]. Klerman and Weissman have indicated that the onset of depression is occurring earlier in life today than in the past [2]. By the year 2020, depression is expected to become the single leading cause of disease burden worldwide [3].
The prevalence of depression in pre-
pubertal children is estimated at approximately 2% and 5%–8% for adolescents [4,5]. A community survey of Australian children found that 3.7% of boys and 2.1% of girls at prepubertal age had experienced a depressive episode [6]. The gender ratio is 1:1 in prepubertal children and increases to 2:1 female-to-male ratio in adolescents [7–9]. In a large study of 1% of total students in preparatory schools in Alexandria, 10% of the students demonstrated depressive scores: 56% of these were girls compared with 44% boys [10].
Identifying one specific primary cause for depression among children and adolescents is hard since they are more sensitive to their environment [11,12]. Tension and conflicts come together triggering clinical depression with physical symptoms [13,14]. In another study in Alexandria, the psychological profile of students rating high on the depression scale indicated that a lack of communication and the presence of parent–child conflicts ranked first (23%), followed by parental conflicts (21%), and 30% had scholastic problems [15].
There has been considerable debate on the efficacy and safety of psychopharmacological drugs such as tricyclic anti-
depressants (TCA) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). Some studies have shown empirical limitations compared with placebo concerning improvement of depressive symptoms and disorders among children and adolescents [16–19]. Psychological treatments for child and adolescent depression, including cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), are therefore now often recommended as a first line of treatment [20]. Several randomized trials attest to the efficacy and safety of CBT in the treatment of depression in children and adolescents [21–24]. Meta-analysis of psychotherapies that have been used in the treatment of child and adolescent depression revealed 63% of those receiving some form of CBT showed significant improvement of symptoms [25,26].
The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms among early adolescents, and to determine the clinical effectiveness of CBT in the management of depressive symptoms in school settings.
Methods
Sample
The study was conducted during the academic year 2003–2004 in 2 preparatory schools [one boys’ (n = 198) and one girls’ school (n = 136)] in a poor socioeconomic district in Alexandria. They were the only such schools in the district. All students enrolled in the first academic year (aged 12–14 years) were eligible for inclusion.
Measures
A questionnaire and psychological tests for depression and self-esteem were administered as baseline screening (pre-test) after having the consent for participation. We used the Arabic version of the Children Depression Inventory (CDI-Arabic version) [15] to measure the severity of depressive symptoms (score range: 0–54, cut-off ≥ 25) and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory [27] to measure the self-esteem (score range: 0–25, cut-off ≤ 13 = low self-esteem).
A sociodemographic questionnaire was completed by the students which included questions on recent stressful life events over the past 6 months, sociodemographic data, and the type of discipline adopted and child interrelations at school and at home. The child’s scholastic performance was assessed through school grades and levels of achievement, which were obtained from school records.
Children with the highest scores on the CDI scale (n = 32) underwent further clinical assessment to confirm depressive symptoms according to the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV-TR) diagnostic criteria [28].
A more detailed questionnaire was completed by the interviewers for parents and teachers of the 32 children with the highest scores to further assess sociodemographic data, global functioning, academic achievement, peer relationships, communication skills with friends and the reason for frequent absences from school (if applicable).
Exclusion criteria (for participating in CBT)
• Children who had been and still were taking antidepressant treatment or therapy over the past 6 months (1 girl)
• Those who refused to join from the children with high scores (child or parental causes) (n = 15; 7 boys and 8 girls).
• Children with suicidal intent and in need of further referral (1 boy).
Treatment intervention
We used the Cognitive behavioral manual for use with child patients with depressive disorders [29] as a basis for therapy.
The intervention sample was 7 boys and 10 girls (n = 17). Nine weekly sessions were conducted at their school during the recreation break; 1 group for the 7 boys and 2 groups for girls with 5 girls each. Each session lasted 60 minutes but some sessions for girls extended to 90 minutes. A set of rules was issued by the children before starting the intervention sessions for control, discipline, respect and confidentiality of the sessions and were approved by their parents.
The main theme for each session was introducing a task or a situation with a role-play approach to solve the different situations. Homework assignments related to the tasks discussed and required them to record at home in writing their own feelings towards the applied activity. Parents attended with their children the discussion and explanation about the intervention as an introduction to what would be applied.
The first session was an ice-breaking session which was followed by 9 therapeutic ones focused on: emotional recognition, self-monitoring, self-reinforcement, activity schedule, communication and interpersonal skills, social problem-solving, cognitive reconstruction I, cognitive reconstruction II, and treatment review plan (final session). The skills were designed to help children learn to get along with peers and adults. We also included parents in some of the sessions where they learned how to encourage healthy behaviour in their children and become better at providing consistent consequences for negative behaviour and praising positive behaviour.
Statistical analysis
Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, version 8.0. The chi-squared test was used for testing the difference in the prevalence between the sexes and the t-test for testing clinical effectiveness of treatment with CBT.
Results
The flow of participants through each stage of the study is shown in Figure 1. This shows that those who were the highest scorers on the CDI depression scale and eligible were recruited to CBT programme (n = 17) ; 7 boys and 10 girls.
The prevalence of depression was 9.6% among all children; 7.1% in boys and 13.2% in girls, giving a male:female ratio of 1:1.86.
Table 1 shows the sociodemographic characteristics of both the high-scorer group (n = 32) and the low-scorer group (n = 300). There were no significant differences between the groups except for parental punishment (χ22 = 11.4, P < 0.0001) and stressful life events over the past 6 months (χ23 = 22.6, P < 0.0001).
Table 2 shows the different mean CDI scores for the 32 highest scorers among all age groups for both boys and girls. At 13 years, girls had more depressive symptoms than boys (t5 = 2.838, P < 0.0363).
Cognitive behaviour therapy intervention programme (pre- and post-intervention differences)
Intervention sessions lasted more than 60 minutes particularly for girls where they felt more suppressed; 8 out of 10 girls reported that the extra household duties and the limitations of outdoor creativity that are available to their boy siblings were the major complaints. In contrast, 5 out of 7 boys mentioned that their deprived families (being the most disadvantaged of the families) made them feel isolated with limited social communication with peers.
The improvement after the end of the intervention programme at the post-test was significantly greater than expected. The changes that occurred were statistically significant both on the depression scale (t2 = 9.02, P < 0.0001) and the self-esteem scores (t16 = 18.495, P < 0.0001) (Table 3).
Table 4 shows that there were marked improvements in feelings of worthlessness, interpersonal relations and communication skills with staff and peers, interest in activities and school achievement among girls (t2 = 10.9, P < 0.0001) and boys (t2 = 12.6, P < 0.0001). As regards overall improvement differences between girls and boys, boys showed greater improvement than girls which was statistically significant (χ23 = 46.7, P < 0.0001).
Discussion
In our study, we found the prevalence of depressive symptoms to be 9.6% which is of concern. Life events over the past 6 months (every-day stressors) and parental punishment were significantly associated with such symptoms. Kalb and Raymond [30] reported family conflicts and poor inter-family communication and peer problems as stressor factors, while Eliot and Reis [31] considered family instability and insecure relationship as stressors.
We found sex differences in the frequency of depression, and early adolescent girls were more likely to be affected than boys with a ratio of approximately 2:1. Several studies have reported that girls are more vulnerable to life transition stressors, conform to social rules and utilize internalizing coping styles more than boys, i.e. they become socially withdrawn [8,32–34].
Pomerantz stated that parents using psychological control attempt to regulate their child’s psychological and emotional development [35]. By constraining verbal expression and invalidating feelings they reinforce the child’s depression. With lack of support, the child is less able to communicate effectively and more conflicts in relationships emerge. Our study illustrated the association between the use of violent means of discipline by parents and high depressive symptoms as has been reported in another study in Egypt [36]. In addition, maltreated children are significantly more likely to have low cognitive functioning, poorer adaptation to school and academic failure [37].
There has been a wave of sentiment against the use of pharmacological intervention as a first-line treatment for child and adolescent depression [20,38]. We observed a general concern towards treatment, especially pharmacological drugs, among the parents of our students, either because of fear of drug dependency or social and psychological stigma.
The start of CBT sessions revealed the conflict between children and their parents and suggested poor treatment outcomes. However, over the course of treatment, parents developed positive views of CBT (praising positive behaviour of their children) and children showed rapid response to the treatment as assessed by the pre- and post-intervention depression scores, which are the main indicators for effective short treatment outcome. Thus, our results confirm those reported by DeCupper and colleagues that CBT can be applied within school and is effective in treating children and adolescents with depressive symptoms [39].
Regrettably, because of the limited awareness of the parents of their child’s need for the programme, a large proportion of the parents of children showing depressive symptoms refused to enrol their child in the intervention programme. This resulted in only a small sample enrolled in the programme, which is was a limiting factor for the study. Furthermore, the lack of awareness of the school staff on mental health issues related to children hindered different approaches directed towards the group with depressive symptoms.
Depression among 12–14-year-old schoolchildren from deprived areas in Alexandria appears to a problem that needs to be addressed and a school mental health programme should be implemented [40]. Follow-up studies with larger sample sizes and adequate control groups will be necessary to evaluate the long-term benefit of CBT. In addition, psychoeducation and parenting skills for parents [21] are recommended together with increased training for mental health and school staff on CBT as a simple and effective tool to decrease depressive symptoms among schoolchildren [41].
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