Study of Mind-Body Skills Groups for Adolescents With Depression in Primary Care

The Center for Mind -Body Medicine has developed a mind-body skills group program that incorporates meditation, guided imagery, breathing techniques, autogenic training, biofeedback, genograms, and self-expression through words, drawings, and movement. These mind-body skills are designed to increase self-awareness and self-regulation. This program has been shown to significantly improve depression symptoms in children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder in Gaza, but it has not yet been tested in a US adolescent population. The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of using mind-body skills groups to reduce depression in adolescents and to investigate the effects of the program on factors such as self-efficacy, mindfulness and rumination which are likely to mediate improvement.

mind-body skills group program incorporates meditation, guided imagery, breathing techniques, autogenic training, biofeedback, genograms, and self-expression through words, drawings, and movement

self report long version (28 items) to assess the presence and severity of depressive symptoms in children

self report long version (28 items) to assess the presence and severity of depressive symptoms in children

self report (14 questions) designed to assess open or receptive awareness of and attention to what is taking place in the present

self report (14 questions) designed to assess open or receptive awareness of and attention to what is taking place in the present

self report (15 items) intervention acceptability assessment of usefulness and helpfulness of the intervention

self report (15 items) intervention acceptability assessment of usefulness and helpfulness of the intervention

3 open-ended questions to gather qualitative data about the usefulness and helpfulness of the intervention

3 open-ended questions to gather qualitative data about the usefulness and helpfulness of the intervention

self report (12 items), 4-point Likert scale(1=Definitely False to 4=Definitely True) evaluates global hope (range 8-32); there are also 2 subscales: hope agency (range 4-16) and hope pathways (range 4-16) includes distracter items global hope score calculated by summing the hope agency and hope pathways scores (omitting distracter items) higher scores indicate a person has higher hope

self report (12 items), 4-point Likert scale(1=Definitely False to 4=Definitely True) evaluates global hope (range 8-32); there are also 2 subscales: hope agency (range 4-16) and hope pathways (range 4-16) includes distracter items global hope score calculated by summing the hope agency and hope pathways scores (omitting distracter items) higher scores indicate a person has higher hope

self report (14 items) to measure positive affect, satisfying interpersonal relationships, and positive functioning 5-point Likert scale (1=none of the time to 5=all of the time) total score is calculated by summing each item score (range 14-70) higher scores represent increased levels of mental wellbeing

self report (14 items) to measure positive affect, satisfying interpersonal relationships, and positive functioning (range 14-70) 5-point Likert scale (1=none of the time to 5=all of the time) total score is calculated by summing each item score (range 14-70) higher scores represent increased levels of mental wellbeing

Inclusion Criteria: Eskenazi Primary Care patients at time of screening 13-17 years old Diagnosis of depression confirmed by Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) Kid Screen (with adolescent) English speaking Willingness to attend mind body skills group for duration of the intervention (10 sessions over approximately 10 weeks) Exclusion Criteria: History of bipolar disorder or psychosis Acute and immediate risk of suicide, determined by clinical assessment Lack of capacity to assent (adolescent) or lack of capacity to consent (parent/guardian) Previous participation by the adolescent in the Eskenazi Mind Body Group intervention

Cunningham LD, Salgado EF, Aalsma MC, Garabrant JM, Staples JK, Gordon JS, Salyers MP. Do adolescents consider mind-body skills groups an acceptable treatment for depression: results from a pilot study. BMC Pediatr. 2021 Oct 27;21(1):475. doi: 10.1186/s12887-021-02942-3.