Abstract

HERNANDEZ-MARINO, Eliana; BIANCHI, Javier M.  and  TORO, Ronald. Effect of Brief Group Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BATD-G) in Incarcerated Individuals. Act.Colom.Psicol. [online]. 2024, vol.27, n.1, pp.1-.  Epub May 28, 2024. ISSN 0123-9155.  https://doi.org/10.14718/acr2024.27.1.6.

Brief Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BATD-R) directs reinforcing activities to address depressive symptomatology. The objective was to establish the effect of BATD-G in a non-probabilistic sample of six men, former members of the armed forces, incarcerated and experiencing depression. A single-case A-B design with follow-up was employed. Instruments included the Environmental Reward Observation Scale, the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale, the Zung Depression Scale, and Daily Monitoring Formats. BATD-G was found to have an effect on the frequency of healthy and depressive behaviors, as indicated by statistically significant differences between baseline and treatment, along with the stability of change at follow-up. Concurrently, clinical changes were observed in measures of environmental reinforcement perception and Behavioral Activation change factors (activation, avoidance/rumination, occupational/academic impairment, and social deterioration). Effect sizes were large, demonstrated by non-overlapping pairs in depressive, healthy behaviors, and mood. It was concluded that the intervention had the expected effect in a group format for this population and was consistent with behavioral activation theories.

Keywords : Depression; behavioral activation; group therapy; prison; legal system.

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