Background This paper describes the pilot evaluation of ‘POD Adventures’, a lay counsellor-guided problem-solving intervention delivered via a smartphone app in Indian secondary schools. Objective To test the feasibility and acceptability of POD Adventures for adolescents with a felt need for psychological support, and to explore the intervention’s effects on self-reported mental health symptoms, prioritised problems, stress and well-being. Methods We used a mixed-methods pre-post cohort design. Participants were self-referred from grades 9–12 in two coeducational government-aided secondary schools in Goa, India. The intervention was delivered in two formats, ‘mixed’ (comprising individual and small group sessions) and ‘group’ (small group sessions only). Findings 248 participants enrolled in the study and 230 (92.7%) completed the intervention. Outcomes at 4 weeks showed significant improvements on all measures that were maintained at 12 weeks. Large effects were observed on problem severity scores (4 weeks, d=1.47; 12 weeks, d=1.53) while small to moderate effects were seen on mental health symptoms, stress and well-being. 22 students completed qualitative interviews about their experience of the intervention. Participants found POD Adventures easy to use, engaging and helpful in solving their problems. They were satisfied with the guidance provided by the counsellor irrespective of delivery format. Conclusions POD Adventures was feasible to deliver with guidance from lay counsellors in Indian schools, acceptable to participants and associated with large improvements in problem severity and mental health symptom severity. Clinical implications POD Adventures has promise as an early intervention for adolescents with a felt need for psychological support in low-resource settings.

中文翻译：

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基于应用程序的青少年心理健康指导性问题解决干预：在印度学校进行的一项试点队列研究

背景 本文描述了“POD Adventures”的试点评估，这是一种通过智能手机应用程序在印度中学提供的由非专业辅导员指导的解决问题的干预措施。目的 测试 POD Adventures 对有心理支持需求的青少年的可行性和可接受性，并探讨干预对自我报告的心理健康症状、优先问题、压力和幸福感的影响。方法 我们使用了混合方法的前后队列设计。参与者是在印度果阿的两所男女同校政府资助中学 9-12 年级的自我推荐的。干预以两种形式提供，“混合”（包括个人和小组会议）和“小组”（仅限小组会议）。结果 248 名参与者参加了研究，230 名 (92.7%) 完成了干预。4 周时的结果显示，所有措施均在 12 周时保持显着改善。观察到对问题严重程度评分有很大影响（4 周，d=1.47；12 周，d=1.53），而对心理健康症状、压力和幸福感有小到中等影响。22 名学生完成了关于他们干预经验的定性访谈。参与者发现 POD Adventures 易于使用、引人入胜且有助于解决他们的问题。无论交付形式如何，他们都对辅导员提供的指导感到满意。结论 POD Adventures 在印度学校的非专业辅导员的指导下是可行的，参与者可以接受，并且与问题严重程度和心理健康症状严重程度的显着改善相关。