Group therapy in schools shows promise for teenagers, study in Pakistan indicates

Group psychological interventions delivered in schools could represent a feasible and effective option for adolescents with mental health problems, a new study conducted in Pakistan suggests.

Results of the study, led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and published in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, showed strong intervention effects in reducing psychosocial distress in adolescents, which could show promise for those living in low-resource settings.

Research, led by Duolao Wang, Professor of Biostatistics at LSTM, Atif Rahman, Professor of Child Psychiatry at University of Liverpool, and Dr Syed Usman Hamdani at Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University in Pakistan, evaluated the effectiveness of a non-specialist-delivered, group psychological intervention to reduce psychosocial distress in school-going adolescents in Pakistan.

Report authors believe that given growing interest in the use of school settings to enhance mental health care for at-risk adolescents through various delivery models, the findings of their study show that non-specialists, supervised by local experts, can effectively mitigate psychosocial distress among adolescents in Pakistan’s low-resource public schools.

Professor Wang said: “From the 40 school clusters that were included, which included over 500 participants, we found a significant improvement in levels of mental ill-health among those receiving this support as compared to those who did not. Common mental health disorders are leading contributors to the burden of disease and health-related disability in children and adolescents globally, and those living in LMICs are disproportionately affected. We hope that this evidence can be built on to show that school-based group interventions can help to improve the mental wellbeing of young people living in LMICs.”