Design, implementation and evaluation of a school-based counselling intervention for adolescent anxiety through digital coaching

Thesis Abstract

Adolescent anxiety presents a persistent barrier to academic engagement and psychosocial development within secondary schools, with digital coaching emerging as a scalable means to deliver timely, accessible counselling. This study investigates the design, implementation, and evaluation of a school-based counselling intervention for adolescent anxiety delivered through a structured digital coaching platform, integrating evidence-based cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness components to address cognitive, behavioral, and emotional regulation skills. The aims are to (1) develop a theory-informed digital coaching program tailored to adolescents in school settings, (2) implement the intervention within five urban secondary schools and establish fidelity across sites, and (3) evaluate its effectiveness on anxiety symptoms, help-seeking attitudes, and academic engagement. Specific objectives include assessing changes in self-reported anxiety using the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) at baseline, mid-intervention (6 weeks), post-intervention (12 weeks), and 3-month follow-up; examining shifts in coping strategies via the Brief COPE; evaluating changes in school engagement through the Engagement as Learning instrument; and exploring user experience and acceptability through qualitative interviews with participants, guardians, and school counsellors. The study adopts a mixed-methods, multi-site design guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to inform adoption processes and the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) framework for intervention content. A quasi-experimental approach with a matched control group will be employed, selecting 400 adolescents aged 13–16 from five public secondary schools, with 200 assigned to the digital coaching condition and 200 to a wait-list control. Data collection instruments include RCADS, the School Engagement Scale, the Coping Strategies Inventory-Short Form, the System Usability Scale (SUS) for platform usability, and semi-structured interview protocols for a purposive sub-sample of 40 participants, 10 guardians, and 5 school counsellors. Instrument validity will be established through prior peer-reviewed use and pilot testing in two non-participating schools; reliability will be assessed with Cronbach’s alpha (? ? .70 as acceptable). Intervention delivery comprises weekly 45-minute digitally facilitated coaching sessions over 12 weeks, supplemented by asynchronous micro-lessons and progress dashboards, with fidelity checks conducted via weekly coding of session transcripts against a fidelity rubric by independent raters. Quantitative data will be analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA to test time-by-group interactions on RCADS and engagement outcomes, supplemented by hierarchical linear modeling to account for nested data structure (students within classes within schools). Mediation analyses will explore whether changes in coping strategies mediate anxiety reductions, using PROCESS macro for SPSS. Qualitative data will be analyzed thematically via Braun and Clarke’s approach to elucidate experiences of usability, perceived impact, and contextual facilitators or barriers to implementation. A convergent parallel design will integrate quantitative and qualitative findings at interpretation, enabling triangulation of effectiveness with feasibility and user acceptance. Expected findings include statistically significant reductions in anxiety symptoms in the intervention group relative to controls at post-intervention and follow-up, improved adaptive coping and school engagement, and high usability scores indicating acceptability of the digital coaching platform. Qualitative insights are anticipated to reveal important moderators of effectiveness, including school support, digital literacy, and family involvement, alongside practical constraints such as device access and scheduling within the school day. The study contributes to knowledge by providing rigorous evidence on the design and scalability of school-based digital counselling interventions for adolescent anxiety, advancing understanding of how CBT and mindfulness-informed digital coaching can be integrated within routine school counsellor practice, and clarifying the role of technology acceptance in intervention uptake. It also contributes methodological insights into conducting randomized-like evaluations in real-world school settings, including fidelity monitoring and mixed-methods integration. The main conclusion is that a theory-informed, digitally delivered counselling intervention can produce meaningful reductions in anxiety and enhancements in coping and engagement when implemented with strong fidelity, school leadership support, and ongoing stakeholder involvement. Recommendations include scaling the model with district-level adoption, ensuring equitable device access, embedding the program into existing pastoral care frameworks, and extending follow-up to one year to assess durability.