Piloting a School-Based Distress Tolerance Skills Program for Adolescents (STRIDE)

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Internalizing Mental Health Symptoms; Distress, Emotional

Treatments: Behavioral: Distress Tolerance Skills Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06638853

STUDY00027611

Details and patient eligibility

About

Research suggests that an individual's perceived ability to withstand distressing or upsetting emotions (i.e., distress tolerance; DT) is a common risk factor across several mental health conditions that commonly emerge during adolescence. This study aims to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and initial efficacy of a classroom-based DT skills training program for middle school students. This study will also explore associations between changes in DT and internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression).

Full description

A variety of deleterious mental health conditions have their peak age of onset in adolescence, including depression and anxiety. Distress tolerance (DT) - defined as the perceived or actual ability to withstand aversive emotional states - has been postulated as a transdiagnostic risk factor across several "emotional" disorders that typically emerge during adolescence. Importantly, while there is compelling evidence that DT is associated with emotion dysregulation and symptom severity, it is unclear whether modifying DT can reduce future risk for psychopathology in adolescent populations. This proposal aims to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a classroom-based DT intervention for middle school students. Additionally, this proposal will examine associations between changes in DT and internalizing symptoms.

Primary Objective:

To evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of a classroom-based DT skills training program for middle school students.

Secondary Objectives:

To examine whether participation in the DT skills training program is associated with lower severity of internalizing symptoms over the course of the academic year.

Enrollment: 74 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 11 to 14 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Middle school aged-youth attending Valley Catholic Middle School in grade 6, 7, or 8

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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74 participants in 2 patient groups

Distress Tolerance Skills Training

Experimental group

Description:

Students will participate in a series of classroom-based lessons aimed at increasing distress tolerance.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Distress Tolerance Skills Training

Standard Curriculum (Control)

No Intervention group

Description:

Students will not participate in the distress tolerance skills training. They will receive only their standard curriculum during class time.