FEASIBILITY EVALUATION OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY-BASED INTERVENTION FOR ENHANCING SOCIAL SKILLS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN PAKISTAN: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Last registered on February 15, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
FEASIBILITY EVALUATION OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY-BASED INTERVENTION FOR ENHANCING SOCIAL SKILLS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN PAKISTAN: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009753
Initial registration date
July 15, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
July 21, 2022, 11:27 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
February 15, 2023, 1:14 AM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Foundation University Islamabad

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Foundation University Islamabad
PI Affiliation
Air University Islamabad
PI Affiliation
Foundation University Islamabad
PI Affiliation
Foundation University islamabad

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-08-15
End date
2022-12-12
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Impaired social skills interfere with social, emotional and academic functioning, and are frequently observed in children with emotional and behavioral disorders. Adolescents with social skills deficits have decreased social competence that is related to higher levels of child’s internalizing and externalizing problems. To the best of our knowledge there is a lack of literature regarding social skill training in Pakistani school children, this highlights the critical requirement of indigenous, evidence-based intervention to address these problems. Present study aims to evaluate feasibility and treatment efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy-based intervention for enhancing social skills in secondary school children of Pakistan through a randomized control trial. The sample of 28 students, age range 14-18 years, were taken from 4 different schools of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Initial screening of 651 participants was done using BASC- Behavioral and Emotional Screening system 3 (BASC-BESS 3). A total of 28 students were allocated in intervention group and control group. Intervention group received cognitive behavior therapy based social skills training, which consisted of eight group sessions per week each lasting for 50-60 minutes. Control group did not receive any treatment. The results revealed that intervention was sufficient in reducing social skill deficits and enhancing personal adjustment among participants Results indicated a significant change in Personal Risk Index (PRI) due to treatment in timeline (F=40.48, p=.00, ηp2=.67), group (F=16.36, p=.00, ηp2=.45) and interaction of group*timeline (F=19.67, p=.00, ηp2=.49). Whereas, a difference is also shown in secondary issues as self-regulation and internalizing risk index. In addition to this an overall decrease in Behavioral and Emotional Risk index is also revealed.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Rohail, Iffat et al. 2023. "FEASIBILITY EVALUATION OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY-BASED INTERVENTION FOR ENHANCING SOCIAL SKILLS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN PAKISTAN: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL." AEA RCT Registry. February 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9753-4.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy based Social skills intervention is used in present study to reduce social skills deficits among secondary school children. This intervention aimed to enhance child's ability to socialize, interact well with others, recognize social cues, and behave appropriately according to the context and situation. This intervention includes strategies that help students in following areas:
1. Emotions and their relationship with behavior according to situation and context.
2. Non-verbal skills in social communication.
3. Appropriate conversation in relationships/ How to improve relationships.
4. Empathy training.
5. Assertiveness.
6. Self-monitoring of behaviour.
7. Conflict-resulotion.
4.
Intervention Start Date
2022-08-22
Intervention End Date
2022-10-17

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Children will learn social skills and their social skills deficits will decrease. Students scores on Personal Adjustment Risk Index will be improved.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Children will learn to generalize the skills by practicing them in new environments. Cognitive Behavior Therapy based social skill training program will provide adolescents with knowledge to perform a social skill and how to perform the skill in accurate manner according to the context or situation. Moreover, they will learn how to exhibit appropriate social skills in presence of competing problem behaviours.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Social skills training program will also help in reduction in behavioral and emotional risk index.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Children will lean to manage their emotions and behaviors in social contexts.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Experimental design
Mixed Design
Experimental Design Details
A parallel group randomized control trial was conducted from 15th August, 2022 to 17th October 2022. Stratified Random design was used for that purpose. Initially four schools were selected from Rawalpindi district and screening of a 651 students were done using BASC-BESS 3. Students who were shown to have issues related to social skills deficits were screened and informed consent was obtained. 28 students were available for recruitment in treatment and control group. Simple random sampling was used to allocate students in two arms. 14 students were allocated in treatment and 14 were allocated in control group.
Randomization Method
fishbowl
Randomization Unit
student, group level randomization for treatment
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
4
Sample size: planned number of observations
22 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
11 control, 11 treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Foundation University Review Board
IRB Approval Date
Details not available
IRB Approval Number
n/a

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
October 17, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
October 22, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
4 schools.
22 students. A total of 28 students were selected for final trial. 6 were dropouts during the course of trail.
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Yes
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
4 schools, 22 students
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
11 in experimental group and 11 in control group
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials