Improving mental health status and coping abilities for long-term unemployed youth using cognitive-behaviour therapy based training interventions

Abstract

SummaryThis paper reports on immediate and long-term well-being outcomes for a group of long-term unemployed youth who attended specially devised training courses based on the cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) model. The courses were aimed speci®cally at improving the mental health of participants, and providing them with coping skills to deal better with the negative consequences of prolonged unemployment. Results for participants were compared with a waiting-list, control group. Outcomes investigated were well-being (psychological distress, self-esteem, positive and negative aect), and coping behaviours (social support, self care, recreation, and cognitive coping strategies). Behavioural plasticity eects were also examined by comparing outcomes for participants who had higher distress scores prior to the course with participants who reported lower scores at that time. Immediate bene®ts were identi®ed for both mental health and coping behaviours, and many of these bene®ts persisted into the long term. Participants with higher levels of pre-course psychological distress improved more than their low distressed counterparts, supporting the behavioural plasticity hypothesis.

Addressing mental health and reemployment for unemployed Australians through psychological interventions: An applied study

“…(2002) found that the Tyohon Program intervention was only effective at reducing psychological distress (and had no impact on depression), this study, in contrast, focused on CBT-based interventions delivered by registered psychologists and showed a significant decrease in depressive symptoms. These results were consistent with previous researchers who had demonstrated that CBT-based interventions improved mental health (Creed et al., 1998; Creed et al., 1999; Proudfoot et al., 1997).…”

“…Why psychological interventions were effective at improving the mental health of unemployed individuals could be explained by Jahoda's (1982) latent deprivation theory. These results extend Creed's et al (1999) findings that the latent benefits of paid employment can be accessed by unemployed individuals who attended psychological intervention. Creed's et al (1999) sample only included group-based intervention, whereas this study evaluated three types of interventions.…”

Understanding the differential benefits of training for the unemployed

“…These results support the prediction that participants would experience differential benefits from the pretraining intervention and are consistent with previous research by the same authors (Creed et al, 1999). Creed et al have also demonstrated that interventions based on the CBT approach (Beck et al, 1979), and on the learned optimism work of Seligman (1990), had a longer lasting positive effect on participant's wellbeing, rather than just a short-term influence.…”

Do Active Labor Market Policies Increase the Subjective Well-being of the Unemployed? Evidence from OECD Countries

“…Our results are consistent with those of(Donovan et al, 1986;Creed et al, 1999;Strandh 2001; Anderson, 2008;Sage, 2015a;2015b;Hetschko, Schöb and Wolf, 2016;Puig-Barrachina et al, 2020).…”