This study was designed to develop intervention programs for children, adolescents, and adults who have depression and suicide thought and to test the effects of the programs in decreasing their depression and suicide thought. Authors analyzed main sy ...
This study was designed to develop intervention programs for children, adolescents, and adults who have depression and suicide thought and to test the effects of the programs in decreasing their depression and suicide thought. Authors analyzed main symptoms of a highly-depressed group through reference books and other programs, and visited regional counseling clinics to interview the clients having depression and suicide thought. Based on the components which had been found through the program analysis and interview, structured group counseling programs for children, adolescents, and adults were developed respectively. To find out subjects who are highly depressed and suicidal, survey questionnaire was administered to 576 children, 434 adolescents, and 627 adults who were enrolled in elementarly school, high school, and college located in Daegu-Kyungpook region. The respondents with high level of depression, hopeless, and suicidal ideation were proposed to participate in the study, and 24 children, 26 adolescents, and 32 college students decided to participate in the intervention programs. With the random-assigned pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test control group design, a 10-sessions(60 minutes each) children group counseling program, a 10-sessions(90 minutes each) adolescents group counseling program, and a 12-sessions(90 minutes each) intensive adult group counseling program were provided to each experimental group respectively. Such instruments as Life Stress Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Interpersonal Support Evaluation Scale, Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire, Beck Hopeless Scale, Self Esteem Scale, Family Adaptability Cohesion Evaluation Scale, Problem Solving Inventory were administered, and the data was analyzed with independent t-test, paired-t test, and ANCOVA to examine the effects of the programs. Results indicated that the group counseling program was effective in decreasing the level of depression, suicidal ideation, and hopeless of the children. The adolescents intervention program was also effective in decreasing the level of depression, suidical ideation, and holeless and in increasing the level of self esteem, problem solving skill, and the perception of social support of the adolescents. The adult intervention program was effective in reducing depression, suicidal ideation, and hopeless and in increasing the perception of informative social support.