Resiliency Training in Indian Children: A Pilot Investigation of the Penn Resiliency Program

Abstract

This paper examines the effectiveness of the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) in an urban Indian setting. The PRP is a program to prevent depression in early adolescence and has proved successful in changing children’s attributional style of life events. While the program has been successful in preventing symptoms of depression in Western populations, the current study explored whether this program could be effective with an Indian sample. The aim of the current study was twofold; first, to study the attributional style of early adolescents in India and identify negative effects (if any) and second, to gain insights in using the PRP as a tool to change explanatory styles in Indian children. A total of 58 children participated in the study (Intervention group n = 29 and Control group n = 29). An Analysis of Covariance comparing post-test scores on Children’s Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) while controlling for baseline scores indicated that children in the intervention group exhibited a significant reduction in pessimistic explanatory style and an increase in optimistic orientation compared to children in the control group. This indicates that the program was effective in changing negative attribution styles among upper-class Indian school children. Future work may look into the longer impact of the program as well as further considerations into adapting the program for a middle class population.

The Impact of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Psycho-Education Program on Psychological Resilience, Irrational Beliefs, and Well-Being

“…It was observed as a result of a literature survey that Dray et al (2015) carried out a study on the impacts of general resilience interventions applied at school environment as a result of which it was determined that these intervention programs are effective in reducing the mental health problems of children and adolescents. Similarly, Sankaranarayanan and Cycil (2014) carried out a study examining the impact of resilience program on Indian children as a result of which it was reported that the pessimistic style children used to describe themselves decreased in children who took part in this education while the optimistic style increased. Gillham et al (2006) carried out a study for examining the impact of the resilience program on the depression levels of male adolescents in which it was concluded that the education is not effective in preventing depressive disorder, but that it is effective against multiple disorders in which depression, anxiety and adaptive disorders are observed together.…”

Risk and Protective Factors for Cigarette Use in Young Adolescents in a School Setting: What Could Be Done Better?

“…Information on the reasons for dissatisfaction with life will be collected during the follow-up phases of this longitudinal study. It is important to understand the reasons for dissatisfaction with life at this young age as effective interventions can prevent depression as well as smoking in early adolescence [ 36 , 37 ]. Evidence found that school-based mental health program, especially in the US, has a strong impact on prevention of emotional (the most common is depression) and behavioural problems [ 38 ].…”

The pilot study of SMART-Resilience a psycho-educational program

“…Study of the Penn Resiliency Program or PRP in overall society (Challen, Machin, & Gillham, 2014;Cutuli, Gillham, et al, 2013;Gillham et al, 2012;Rebecca K Hodder et al, 2012), which produces the effectiveness and feasibility of school-based resilience interventions through developing mental status and avoidance of emotional or behavioral troubles. Study of the effect of the Penn resilience program conducted in early adolescents in India has found successful in developing children's attribution of life events (Sankaranarayanan & Cycil, 2014). Other resilience program models that investigate and have known effectiveness such as Ready (Burton, Pakenham, & Brown, 2010).…”