Abstract

Depression and suicide ideation appear to be concerning public health issues among secondary school adolescents, particularly in Anambra State, Nigeria. This study investigated the effectiveness of cognitive restructuring and self-management therapies in the management of depression and suicide ideation among adolescents in Anambra State. A quasi-experimental pretest/post-test research design was employed. The study involved 101 adolescent students selected through stratified and simple random sampling techniques in three educational zones. The participants selected were grouped into three and randomly assigned to cognitive restructuring therapy group, self-management therapy group, and a control group. This paper was anchored on Integrated Motivational-Volitional Model of Suicide Behaviour. Two research questions and two research hypotheses guided the study. Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ), Suicide Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS), and Depression Inventory (DI) with reliability coefficients of 0.84, 0.75, and 0.88, respectively, were used for the collection of data in this study. The data collected were analysed using standard deviation, mean and analysis of covariance at a 0.05 level of significance. The results of the analysis revealed that cognitive restructuring and self-management therapies reduce suicide ideation significantly among adolescent students compared to the control group. Also, the two therapies brought about substantial reductions in depression, with cognitive restructuring therapy showing a slightly higher effectiveness in mitigating this issue. These results provide valuable insights for counsellors, educators, mental health practitioners, and policymakers on the provision of culturally and contextually tailored mental health interventions in Anambra State.