Skills for Wellness

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

maCBT: Multimodal Antecedent-focussed Cognitive-behavioural Training (maCBT) is an individual manualized psychological intervention. It follows an integrated model focussed on normalisation of the unusual experiences, their re-appraisal, exploring helpfulness of current coping, and developing a repertoire of strategies to decrease the impact of these experiences on the young person's life. The maCBT follows a manual describing obligatory and optional therapeutic elements, proposed list of modules, outline of a therapeutic session, and the integrated cognitive model. The intervention will be delivered in 8 to 16 one-hour sessions in an individual format. Sessions will be initially weekly, and then spaced out to once every two weeks in the latter stages of the intervention.

Study summary

Severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and mood disorders typically develops at a young age and can cause life-long disability. Currently available treatments cannot cure severe mental illness. This makes it important to find ways to prevent severe mental illness in young people before it has a chance to develop. This research study will pilot a new preventive intervention for young people who are at high risk of developing severe mental illness. The investigators will target early preceding factors (the 'antecedents') to severe mental illness which includes anxiety, unusual hearing and visual experiences, the loss of previously acquired abilities, and sudden and unpredictable changes in mood. These antecedents strongly predict an increased risk of developing severe mental illness. They are often impairing and distressing to the individual but can be improved with self-management skills and parent training, and they are present in the individual years before the onset of severe mental illness which makes them an ideal target for early intervention. The goal is to intervene early enough in the young person's life that severe mental illness can be prevented, hopefully leading to a happy, healthy and productive adulthood. The investigators want to test the acceptability and short-term efficacy of this new preventive intervention.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Early antecedents to severe mental illness — 4-6 months after the end of the intervention
  Presence of any one (or more) of four early antecedents that may indicate risk for developing severe mental illness (psychotic-like experiences, basic symptoms, anxiety and affective lability). psychotic-like experiences - presence of one or more definite clinician-confirmed psychotic symptoms on Funny Feelings instrument. basic symptoms = presence of COGDIS (Cognitive Disturbances) or COPER (Cognitive-perceptive basic symptoms) high risk profile on the Schizophrenia Proneness Instrument - Child and Youth version (SPI-CY) anxiety = diagnosis of an anxiety disorder on K-SADS (Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia) interview or score above the high specificity cutoff (30 or higher) on the SCARED (Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders) questionnaire (self or parent report) affective lability = score of 1 standard deviation or more above general population on the affective lability scales (self- or parent report)

Trial sites (2)

More Nova Scotia Health Authority trials in Canada

Other trials for the same condition