Cawthorne, Tom;
Käll, Anton;
Bennett, Sophie;
Baker, Elena;
Andersson, Gerhard;
Shafran, Roz;
(2023)
The development and preliminary evaluation of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Chronic Loneliness in Young People.
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy
, 51
(5)
pp. 414-431.
10.1017/S1352465823000231.
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Abstract
Background: Approximately 10% of young people ‘often’ feel lonely, with loneliness being predictive of multiple physical and mental health problems. Research has found CBT to be effective for reducing loneliness in adults, but interventions for young people who report loneliness as their primary difficulty are lacking. // Method: CBT for Chronic Loneliness in Young People was developed as a modular intervention. This was evaluated in a single-case experimental design (SCED) with seven participants aged 11–18 years. The primary outcome was self-reported loneliness on the Three-Item Loneliness Scale. Secondary outcomes were self-reported loneliness on the UCLA-LS-3, and self- and parent-reported RCADS and SDQ impact scores. Feasibility and participant satisfaction were also assessed. // Results: At post-intervention, there was a 66.41% reduction in loneliness, with all seven participants reporting a significant reduction on the primary outcome measure (p < .001). There was also a reduction on the UCLA-LS-3 of a large effect (d = 1.53). Reductions of a large effect size were also found for parent-reported total RCADS (d = 2.19) and SDQ impact scores (d = 2.15) and self-reported total RCADS scores (d = 1.81), with a small reduction in self-reported SDQ impact scores (d = 0.41). Participants reported high levels of satisfaction, with the protocol being feasible and acceptable. // Conclusions: We conclude that CBT for Chronic Loneliness in Young People may be an effective intervention for reducing loneliness and co-occurring mental health difficulties in young people. The intervention should now be evaluated further through a randomised controlled trial (RCT).
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The development and preliminary evaluation of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Chronic Loneliness in Young People |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/S1352465823000231 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465823000231 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original article is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained prior to any commercial use. |
| Keywords: | CBT; Child mental health; Loneliness |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10174982 |
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