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Evaluation ViewAttendees 2

Treatment - CBT
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 39 - Expanding Access to Evidence-Based Intervention: Adapting Behavioral Activation for Diverse Groups Across the Lifespan

Saturday, November 22, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CST
Location: Celestin B, Level 3
CE: 1

Keywords: Behavioral Activation, Depression, Underserved Populations
Level of Familiarity: All
Recommended Readings: Anvari, M. S., Hampton, T., Tong, M. P., Kahn, G., Triemstra, J. D., Magidson, J. F., & Felton, J. W. (2023). Behavioral activation disseminated by non–mental health professionals, paraprofessionals, and peers: A systematic review. Behavior therapy, 54(3), 524-538.,   Martin, F., & Oliver, T. (2019). Behavioral activation for children and adolescents: a systematic review of progress and promise. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 28, 427-441.,   Rethorst, C. D., Trombello, J. M., Chen, P., Carmody, T. J., Lazalde, A., & Trivedi, M. H. (2023). Adaption of tele-behavioral activation to increase physical activity in depression: Protocol for iterative development and evaluation. Contemporary clinical trials communications, 33, 101103.,   Raue, P. J., Sirey, J. A., Dawson, A., Berman, J., & Bruce, M. L. (2019). Lay‐delivered behavioral activation for depressed senior center clients: Pilot RCT. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 34(11), 1715-1723.,  

Depression is a prevalent health problem for people of all ages, particularly adolescence through older adulthood (American Psychiatric Association, 2025); however, access to evidence-based interventions is limited by provider shortages that require patients to navigate long waitlists and travel long distances to receive effective care (Health Resources and Services Administration, 2025). Access is further limited for individuals with low socioeconomic status, in rural communities, and who are non-English speakers.

Behavioral Activation (BA) is well-established as an effective treatment for depression, and this symposium describes BA interventions developed for three developmental periods: adolescence, adulthood, and older adulthood. The presentations describe approaches to BA implementation that address common barriers to accessing care, including brief telehealth delivery format, workforce development through lay-interventionists, and bilingual intervention delivery. Presenters will describe clinical outcomes, as well as implications for future research and clinical practice.

The first presentation shares findings from a statewide lay-delivered BA program for adolescent depression. The second presentation details a BA pilot study targeting physical activity to treat depression in English- and Spanish-speaking adults. The third presentation reports on a lay-delivered, multi-site, randomized control BA trial targeting depression in English- and Spanish-speaking older adults.

Presenters bring their experiences developing, evaluating, and disseminating behavioral activation interventions in a wide range of contexts and populations. The discussant will draw on her experience developing and evaluating evidence-based CBT treatments to provide recommendations for further development of the evidence base behind behavioral activation interventions seeking to increase care access and improve depression treatment outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Identify effective strategies to address barriers to access of empirically-supported interventions for depression.
  2. Describe feasibility of Behavioral Activation interventions to treat depression across the lifespan.
  3. Discuss implications for future research and intervention delivery.

Presentations:

  • 12:03 PM - 12:22 PM CST
    (SYM 39) Expanding Access to Behavioral Activation: Preliminary Findings from a Statewide, Lay-delivered Behavioral Activation Telehealth Program for Teens

    Speaker: Lynnel C. Goodman, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

    Co-author: Yasmin AlZubi, MSW – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

    Co-author: Abu Minhajuddin, PhD (he/him/his) – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

    Co-author: Sarah Wakefield, M.D. – Psychiatry, School of Medicine, TTUHSC

    Co-author: Madhukar Trivedi, M.D. – UT Southwestern Medical Center

  • 12:22 PM - 12:41 PM CST
    (SYM 39) Behavioral Activation to Increase Physical Activity in Persons with Depression

    Speaker: Chad D. Rethorst, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Texas A&M Agrilife Research - Dallas

    Co-author: Lynnel C. Goodman, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

    Co-author: Thomas Carmody, PhD – UT Southwestern Medical Center

    Co-author: Madhukar Trivedi, M.D. – UT Southwestern Medical Center

  • 12:41 PM - 1:00 PM CST
    (SYM 39) Lay-delivered Behavioral Activation for Senior Center Clients with Depression: Preliminary Clinical Outcomes from a Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial

    Speaker: Patrick J. Raue, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University of Washington School of Medicine

    Co-author: Jo Anne Sirey, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Weill Medical College

    Co-author: Amber Gum, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of South Florida

    Co-author: Brittany Blanchard, PhD – UW

    Co-author: Rou Revere, MS – UW

    Co-author: Lesley Steinman, PhD – UW

    Co-author: Isabel Rollandi, Ph.D. – Weill Cornell Medicine

    Co-author: Nicole Crawford, LCSW – USF

    Co-author: Bernardo Martinez, BS – UW

    Co-author: Elizabeth Jones, BA – UW