Effectiveness of solution-focused coping with depression training on depression symptoms

Objective: Since solution-focused brief therapy introduction in the mid-1980s, research has consistently shown that solution focused therapy is effective in the treatment of depression and numerous other conditions. The purpose of this experimental study was to examine the effectiveness of solution focused coping with depression training based on solution focused brief threapy on the depression symptoms of university students. Method: This research is a quasi-experimental design in which pretest-posttest design with a control and placebo groups have been used. The data were obtained from a sample consisting of 48 university students who have depression symptoms, 16 in experimental, 16 in control and 16 in plasebo groups. Beck Depression Inventory was administered as pretest, posttest and follow-up tests. Dependent variable was solution-focused therapy in which experimental group was provided with seven-hour group counseling (seven sessions which took one hour). In the meantime, placebo group was provided with irrelevant training (communication skills) to eliminate the effect of subjects. After the sessions were wound up, BDI questionnaire was administered again among both groups. One month later, the posttest and then BDI questionnaire were conducted. Results: Results indicated that there were significant differences amongs the experimental, the control and plasebo groups for mean of depression points in favor of the experimental group. The results of the follow-up tests administered to experimental group one month later indicated that the differences between posttest and follow-up test results were not significant. Conclusion: Findings obtained from end of the research indicated that solution focused coping with depression training is effective in reducing depressive symptoms of university students.