Innovative health program reduces depression, unhealthy weights in teens

I would like to know how they deal with children who are being abused by their parents, or bullied by other children.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/osu-ihp110915.php

Public Release: 9-Nov-2015
Innovative health program reduces depression, unhealthy weights in teens
COPE program has positive effects that last at least a year after completion
Ohio State University

An innovative high school health program helped students maintain healthier weights and even alleviated severe depression for a full year after the program ended.

Researchers found that 12 months after completing the COPE Healthy Lifestyles TEEN Program, students had markedly lower body mass index than students who received a more standard health curriculum. Additionally, COPE teens who began the program with extremely elevated depression had symptoms in the normal range after 12 months.

COPE (Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) Healthy Lifestyles TEEN (Thinking, Emotions, Exercise, Nutrition) teaches adolescents that how they think is directly related to how they feel and behave. It also teaches them how to turn negative beliefs triggered by "activating events" into positive beliefs so that they feel emotionally better and engage in healthy behaviors. The program is based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), with an emphasis on skills-building.

"CBT is the gold standard treatment for depression and anxiety, but it has traditionally been used in one-on-one, hour-long therapy sessions," said Bernadette Melnyk, dean of The Ohio State University College of Nursing and lead author of the study.

"With COPE, any health professional or educator can teach cognitive behavior skills to adolescents. This is huge for schools or community centers. We can really make positive impacts on teens' lives by teaching these skills to them."

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"The feedback from the teens during the open-ended evaluations included hundreds of comments specifically indicating that the COPE program helped them deal effectively with stress and anger as well as to feel better about themselves."

Melnyk said she hopes that schools across the country will use COPE in their health curricula.

"A variety of professionals can learn the program, so it could be used in schools, community centers and youth organizations to help teens lead healthier, happier lives and perform better academically," she said.