Trial reportBMC medicine2026
Trainee-delivered school-based intervention with guided narrative writing for adolescent anxiety and depression: a cluster randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in BMC medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06708442 (Guided Narrative Technique After Coronavirus Outbreak Influencing Positive and Negative Emotions and Cognition for Children--A Randomized Controlled Trial), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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.
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.
Guided Narrative Technique After Coronavirus Outbreak Influencing Positive and Negative Emotions and Cognition for Children--A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Precision diagnosis model for treatment-resistant depression integrating serum metabolomics and clinical risk factors.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAnxiety and depression affect 20% of children globally, with heightened risk during periods of crisis and substantial burden in low-resource settings where specialist services are scarce. Universal school-based interventions delivered by supervised trainees could promote youth mental health at scale, yet evidence for brief programs remains limited. We evaluated a brief cognitive-behavioral program (BRAVE: Be Emotionally Aware, Recognize Thoughts, Accept Challenges, Voice Emotions, Explore Solutions) with guided narrative writing (GNT-W) versus drawing control (GNT-D) among rural Chinese adolescents.
methodsIn this cluster-randomized trial, 211 Grade 5 students (95.5% participation; mean age 10.03 years (SD 0.31)) from four classes in Hubei Province received three BRAVE classroom sessions delivered by trainees, then were randomized by class to guided narrative writing or drawing for three additional sessions. Primary outcomes were anxiety and depression (RCADS-25) at baseline, post-BRAVE, post-intervention, and 3- and 6-month follow-up, analyzed using multilevel models.
resultsRetention exceeded 95%, and session adherence was over 95%. Both groups showed reduced anxiety after BRAVE (d = - 0.26). At 6-month follow-up, only GNT-W sustained anxiety reductions (mean difference, - 1.80; 95% CI - 3.35 to - 0.25, p = 0.02, d = - 0.22), while anxiety increased in GNT-D. Among high-symptom students, GNT-W yielded large, sustained reductions in anxiety (d = - 1.44) and depression (d = - 0.71) at 6 months, versus minimal change or worsening with GNT-D.
conclusionsA brief, school-based CBT program with structured narrative writing, delivered by supervised trainees, produced sustained reductions in anxiety among adolescents in resource-limited settings. This approach shows promise for addressing youth mental health treatment gaps where specialist services are scarce.
trial registrationclinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT06708442. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06708442?id=NCT06708442&rank=1.
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