The roles of learning ability and stress reactivity in coping behaviour change: a CBT-based brief stress-management intervention

Abstract

CBT is well established as an effective treatment for a range of mental health problems and its use as a treatment for stress-related problems in occupational settings is also well evidenced; however, not every recipient of CBT necessarily shows improvement. Despite decades of research into the comparative effectiveness of psychological therapies like CBT, little is known still regarding how and why such therapies work. Mechanisms of change research in the field of therapeutic effectiveness has thus far focussed on therapy-specific variables or common factors such as therapist variables or the therapeutic alliance. Little attention has been paid to the role of individual client characteristics in processes of therapeutic change, and less still on psychobiological variables such as stress reactivity. High levels of stress reactivity have been found to constitute a risk factor for psychopathology, and further to impact upon cognitive processes of learning. The literature review herein explores this gap in knowledge and the research study that follows investigated the relationship of stress reactivity and learning ability to coping behaviour change. This was explored with a longitudinal control group design involving application of a brief CBT based stress management intervention to a university student population. Results found no positive intervention effect on coping behaviour change and no relationships with the variables of learning ability and stress reactivity; however, a negative relationship between these two variables was reported. Results and limitations of the study, along with implications for clinical practice are discussed.

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