Association between Intention to Quit School and Youth Depression: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of a Group CBT Course

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flowchart of participants.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics for the intervention (ACDC) and control group (UC) measures.

	ACDC intervention (N = 133)		UC (N = 95)
	M	SD	M	SD
1. Depressive symptoms T1, pretest	33.08	9.97	32.01	9.75
2. Depressive symptoms T2, second pretest	32.77	8.80	30.28	10.67
3. Depressive symptoms T3, post-test	26.85	11.82	29.55	10.77
4. Intention to quit school T1, pretest	2.45	.85	2.48	.77
5. Intention to quit school T4, 6-month follow-up	2.52	.87	2.71	.93
6. Gender (% female)	91.0		83.2
7. Age	16.55	1.09	16.92	1.16

Notes: Ranges and anchors: Depressive symptoms (0 = No symptoms, 60 = High level of and frequent symptoms); Intention to quit school (1 = Strongly agree, 4 = Strongly disagree).

Table 2. Intercorrelations among variables for the overall sample (N = 228).

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1. Depressive symptoms T1, pretest	(.881)	.65***	.43***	.35***	.22**	.21***	−.07
2. Depressive symptoms T2, second pretest		(.881)	.47***	.31***	.27**	.13	−.16*
3. Depressive symptoms T3, post-test			(.921)	.21*	.34***	.07	−.00
4. Intention to quit school T1, pretest				(.791)	.39***	.08	.04
5. Intention to quit school T4, 6-month follow-up					(.786)	−.08	.10
6. Gender						(–)	−.16*
7. Age							(–)

Notes: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. Gender = Males coded 1 and females coded 2. Cronbach’s alphas in parentheses.

Figure 2. Path diagram of the longitudinal effect of the intervention on six-month follow-up intention to quit as a result of depression at post-test. Gender = Males coded 1 and females coded 2. Intervention = UC control was coded 0 and ACDC intervention 1. T1 =  pretest, T2 = second pretest, T3 =  post-test, and T4 = six-month follow-up. Standardized parameter estimates are reported only for the significant paths of the covariates. **p < .01, ***p < .001.

Table

	Participating T2 vs. not		Participating T3 vs. not		Participating T4 vs. not
	t-test/χ^2	p-value	t-test/χ^2	p-value	t-test/χ^2	p-value
Demographic characteristics
Gender	1.807	.179	.303	.582	.679	.410
Age	3.061	.002	.191	.849	1.758	.080
Outcomes
Depression T1, first pretest	.731	.465	1.081	.281	.496	.621
Depression T2, second pretest	–	–	−.091	.928	−262	.794
Depression T3, post-test	–	–	–	–	2.014	.046
Intention to quit T1, first pretest	1.362	.174	.420	.675	.912	363
Intention to quit school T4, 6-month follow-up	–	–	–	–	–	–

Notes: Demographic characteristics were based on their information at T1, first pre-test.

Table

Section/Topic	Item no.	Checklist item	Reported on page no.
Title and abstract
	1a	Identification as a randomized trial in the title	1
	1b	Structured summary of trial design, methods, results, and conclusions (for specific guidance, see CONSORT for abstracts)	2
Introduction
Background and objectives	2a	Scientific background and explanation of rationale	3–6
	2b	Specific objectives or hypotheses	6
Methods
Trial design	3a	Description of trial design (such as parallel, factorial) including allocation ratio	6–7
	3b	Important changes to methods after trial commencement (such as eligibility criteria), with reasons	–
Participants	4a	Eligibility criteria for participants	7–8
	4b	Settings and locations where the data were collected	7
Interventions	5	The interventions for each group with sufficient details to allow replication, including how and when they were actually administered	8–9
Outcomes	6a	Completely defined pre-specified primary and secondary outcome measures, including how and when they were assessed	9–10
	6b	Any changes to trial outcomes after the trial commenced, with reasons	–
Sample size	7a	How sample size was determined	–
	7b	When applicable, explanation of any interim analyses and stopping guidelines	–
Randomization:
Sequence generation	8a	Method used to generate the random allocation sequence	7
	8b	Type of randomization; details of any restriction (such as blocking and block size)	–
Allocation concealment mechanism	9	Mechanism used to implement the random allocation sequence (such as sequentially numbered containers), describing any steps taken to conceal the sequence until interventions were assigned	7–8
Implementation	10	Who generated the random allocation sequence, who enrolled participants, and who assigned participants to interventions	7
Blinding	11a	If done, who was blinded after assignment to interventions (for example, participants, care providers, those assessing outcomes) and how	–
	11b	If relevant, description of the similarity of interventions	–
Statistical methods	12a	Statistical methods used to compare groups for primary and secondary outcomes	10–11
	12b	Methods for additional analyses, such as subgroup analyses and adjusted analyses	–
Results
Participant flow (a diagram is strongly recommended)	13a	For each group, the number of participants who were randomly assigned, received intended treatment, and were analyzed for the primary outcome	23
	13b	For each group, losses and exclusions after randomization, together with reasons	23
Recruitment	14a	Dates defining the periods of recruitment and follow-up	10
	14b	Why the trial ended or was stopped	–
Baseline data	15	A table showing baseline demographic and clinical characteristics for each group	22
Numbers analyzed	16	For each group, number of participants (denominator) included in each analysis and whether the analysis was by original assigned groups	23
Outcomes and estimation	17a	For each primary and secondary outcome, results for each group, and the estimated effect size and its precision (such as 95% confidence interval)	13–14
	17b	For binary outcomes, presentation of both absolute and relative effect sizes is recommended	–
Ancillary analyses	18	Results of any other analyses performed, including subgroup analyses and adjusted analyses, distinguishing pre-specified from exploratory	–
Harms	19	All important harms or unintended effects in each group (for specific guidance, see CONSORT for harms)	–
Discussion
Limitations	20	Trial limitations, addressing sources of potential bias, imprecision, and, if relevant, multiplicity of analyses	16–17
Generalizability	21	Generalizability (external validity, applicability) of the trial findings	16
Interpretation	22	Interpretation consistent with results, balancing benefits and harms, and considering other relevant evidence	14–18
Other information
Registration	23	Registration number and name of trial registry	18
Protocol	24	Where the full trial protocol can be accessed, if available	18
Funding	25	Sources of funding and other support (such as supply of drugs), role of funders	18

*We strongly recommend reading this statement in conjunction with the CONSORT 2010 Explanation and Elaboration for important clarifications on all the items. If relevant, we also recommend reading CONSORT extensions for cluster randomized trials, non-inferiority and equivalence trials, non-pharmacological treatments, herbal interventions, and pragmatic trials. Additional extensions are forthcoming: for those and for up-to-date references relevant to this checklist, see www.consort-statement.org.