Problem Solving as an Active Ingredient in Indicated Prevention and Treatment of Youth Depression and Anxiety: An Integrative Review

“If there is a tension about something, I can solve it”: A qualitative investigation of change processes in a trial of brief problem‐solving interventions for common adolescent mental health problems in India

“…Qualitative interviews were deemed to be an appropriate qualitative data collection method, keeping in mind our interest in exploring participants' subjective experiences of the respective interventions (Clarke & Braun, 2013 ), and the lack of validated quantitative measures of problem‐solving mechanisms in the study setting (Michelson et al, 2022 ). To help with structuring the descriptions of qualitative methods and findings, we followed Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (Tong et al, 2007 ).…”

“…The systematic developmental process involved scoping literature reviews, formative qualitative studies with adolescents and other relevant stakeholders, and extensive piloting (Michelson, Malik, Krishna, et al, 2020 ). Problem solving was selected as a first‐line practice element, reflecting its frequent use in evidence‐based intervention protocols for common adolescent mental health problems (Hogue et al, 2020 ; Michelson et al, 2022 ). Problem solving is also a key skill with direct relevance to psychosocial stressors that were prioritized in adolescents' explanatory models of distress in our formative research (Parikh, Michelson, Sapru, et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Problem solving is also a key skill with direct relevance to psychosocial stressors that were prioritized in adolescents' explanatory models of distress in our formative research (Parikh, Michelson, Sapru, et al, 2019 ). Consistent with stress‐coping theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 ), the therapeutic focus on problem‐solving skills is intended to rebalance the transactional stress‐coping system in two ways: (i) by modifying “problem orientation” from a negative to a more positive stance, and (ii) by teaching an adaptive “problem‐solving style” where structured steps can be used to define and resolve problems effectively (Michelson et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Additionally, mediation analysis indicated that a measure of perceived stress (partly related to the construct of problem orientation) at 6 weeks mediated 15% and 23% of the intervention group effects on measures of psychosocial problem severity and mental health symptoms, respectively, at 12 weeks (Michelson, Malik, Parikh, et al, 2020 ). Looking beyond the PRIDE trial, a recent review identified only five randomized controlled trials that tested standalone problem‐solving interventions for young people with depression or anxiety, none of which included a fully powered mediation analysis (Michelson et al, 2022 ).…”

Knowledge Of Problem Solving (KOPS) scale: Design and evaluation of a scalable competency measure for a common practice element in task-shared youth mental health interventions

“…The Knowledge of Problem Solving (KOPS) scale incorporates a vignettebased, multiple-choice format that was designed to be presented digitally, easy to selfadminister and score, and relevant to diverse therapeutic scenarios that may be encountered in real-world settings, thus addressing key challenges in scaling up expert-rated observational scales (Cooper et al, 2017;Kohrt et al, 2015Kohrt et al, , 2020Ottman et al, 2019). Although initially intended for use in India, there may also be wider applications for the measure given that problem solving is among the most common practice elements in evidence-based psychological interventions for adolescents worldwide (Michelson et al, 2022).…”