Evaluating a three-session resilience workshop for secondary school students

INTERVENTION: This study is a cluster‐randomised controlled trial. The six participating schools provide a list of Year Eight classes to the researcher, and from this list cluster‐randomisation is used to allocate one class to the intervention condition and one class to the control condition, using a random number generator. The intervention class receive an ACT workshop, comprising three one‐hour sessions, delivered across a maximum of a six‐week period. Each ACT workshop is one hour in duration. The ACT workshops are delivered by one teacher and one school counsellor from each secondary school. The control class attend their usual lessons. The intervention consists of a universal, non‐targeted Acceptance and Commitment Therapy intervention program, ‘InTER‐ACT’ (In School Training In Emotional Resilience with ACT), developed by two Clinical Psychologists, Dr Victoria Samuel and Dr Chloe Constable. Each workshop consisted of a psycho‐educational element, experiential exercises and opportunities for group discussion and interaction. Students in both the intervention and control classes complete a set of questionnaires in the week prior to the first workshop (pre‐intervention), in the week following the final workshop (post‐intervention) and six weeks following the final workshop (follow‐up). CONDITION: Mental health and wellbeing in secondary school students ; Mental and Behavioural Disorders PRIMARY OUTCOME: Wellbeing, measured by the Short Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well‐being Scale at three timepoints (pre‐intervention, post‐intervention and a six‐week follow up). SECONDARY OUTCOME: ; 1. Anxiety and Depression measured using Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS‐25) at three timepoints (pre‐intervention, post‐intervention and a six‐week follow up); 2. Stress measured by Perceived Stress Scale (PSS‐4) at three timepoints (pre‐intervention, post‐intervention and a six‐week follow up); 3. Mindfulness measured by Child Acceptance and Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) at three timepoints (pre‐intervention, post‐intervention and a six‐week follow up); INCLUSION CRITERIA: Participants must be enrolled in a Year Eight class of one of the participating secondary schools.