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Symposia

Mental Health Disparities

Understanding and Addressing Structural Stressors Impacting Youth Mental Health through Novel, Affirming Interventions

4 - (SYM 3) A Personalized Life Skills Intervention Reduces Depression and Anxiety: Findings of a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Friday, November 21, 2025
10:56 AM - 11:13 AM CST
Location: Strand 1, Level 2
Keywords: Mental Health Disparities, Treatment Development, Adolescents
Recommended Readings: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2011-2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.,   Lipson, S. K., Zhou, S., Abelson, S., Heinze, J., Jirsa, M., Morigney, J., Patterson, A., Singh, M., & Eisenberg, D. (2022). Trends in college student mental health and help-seeking by race/ethnicity: Findings from the national healthy minds study, 2013-2021. Journal of Affective Disorders, 306, 138–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.03.038,   Ramos, G., & Chavira, D. A. (2022). Use of Technology to Provide Mental Health Care for Racial and Ethnic Minorities: Evidence, Promise, and Challenges. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 29(1), 15–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2019.10.004,   Ringle, V. A. M., Sung, J. Y., Roulston, C. A., & Schleider, J. L. (2024). Mixed-methods examination of adolescent-reported barriers to accessing mental health services. Journal of Adolescent Health, 74(2), 268–276.,   Zimmerman, A., Garman, E., Avendano-Pabon, M., Araya, R., Evans-Lacko, S., McDaid, D., Park, A.-L., Hessel, P., Diaz, Y., Matijasevich, A., Ziebold, C., Bauer, A., Paula, C. S., & Lund, C. (2021). The impact of cash transfers on mental health in children and young people in low-income and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Global Health, 6(4), e004661. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004661
Abstract Body



Introduction: Previous research has shown the Shamiri Intervention, a four-session, school-based, lay-provider delivered intervention, outperforms a study-skills active control for reducing anxiety and depression in Kenyan adolescents (Osborn et al., 2021). In a trial conducted in a context of unusually elevated academic stress, the study-skills active control was notably more effective than in previous trials, maybe because of study-skills’ relevance to the academic stress influencing anxiety and depression symptoms (Venturo-Conerly et al., 2024). Building on this finding, interventions directly targeting pertinent life stressors may reduce symptoms of mental illness, even when they do not directly target those symptoms.



Methods: N=126 Kenyan high school students (M(SD)age=16.32(1.03); 50.00% female) enrolled in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a novel four-session, lay-provider delivered, school-based Life Skills intervention. This Life Skills intervention targets one of the three most common life problem types reported by Kenyan high school students: academic problems, financial problems, and social problems. Each participant randomized to the intervention condition (n=80) was assigned, based on their reported preferences, to either the Study Skills, Financial Skills, or Social Skills intervention. The remaining n=46 participants were randomized to an enhanced treatment as usual control. Linear mixed effects models tested the effect of a time by condition interaction on anxiety, depression, and wellness scores, accounting for age and gender and including a random intercept for participants.



Results: Preliminary analyses show significantly lower depression symptoms at endpoint in the intervention relative to the control group (B(SE)=-2.32(1.13); p=0.04), with this effect remaining stable at one-month follow-up. Similarly, significantly lower anxiety symptoms were evidenced in the intervention relative to control group at endpoint (B(SE)=-2.72(1.10); p=0.01), and still at one-month follow-up. No significant effects were observed for wellness, though a trend in the same direction was observed. Acceptability results will be shared in the symposium.



Conclusions: This pilot RCT provides initial evidence that targeting pertinent life problems with personalized life skills interventions can also reduce depression and anxiety symptoms. A larger replication study is necessary, as are investigations into which youth benefit most from life skills compared to more symptom-focused interventions.