Effectiveness of a Group Behavioral Activation Intervention for Subthreshold Depression in Chinese University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Reyihangu Tuerxun, Jianchi Cui, Lixia Cui

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in The Psychiatric quarterly, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Reyihangu TuerxunBeijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China.

Jianchi CuiBeijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China.

Lixia CuiBeijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China. clx668@163.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5963-6669

Funding

the Beijing Philosophy and Social Science Planning Program and Social Science Research Key Program of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education SZ202210028012the National Natural Science Project of China 31571143

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Subthreshold depression (SD) is prevalent among Chinese undergraduates, often leading to impaired academic and social functioning, and elevated risk for major depressive disorder (MDD). Behavioral activation (BA) is an evidence-based treatment for depression, but its effectiveness and mechanisms for SD in this population remain relatively limited. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a culturally adapted, group-based BA intervention for reducing SD symptoms, increasing environmental rewards (ERs), and promoting behavioral activation. Forty-one undergraduates with SD were randomly assigned to six 90-minute sessions of face-to-face BA group (n = 21) or a waitlist control (n = 20). Compared to the waitlist, the BA group showed significantly greater reductions in depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II) from baseline to post intervention and this improvement was sustained in follow-up (Group × Time interaction, F(2,78) = 6.79, p < 0.05, partial η

Indexed as

Behavioral activationEnvironmental rewardRandomized controlled trialSubthreshold depressionUniversity students

Identifiers

PMID41454036

DOI10.1007/s00787-023-02142-7

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.