Objective: The study objective was to determine the effect of a cognitive behavioural intervention (CBI) on depression among community-dwelling adult learners in Nigeria.
Methods: This was a 10-week randomized control trial. Participants were 82 community-dwelling adult learners with depression. The Beck Depression Inventory-II was used for data collection. Data were analysed using repeated measures analysis of variance.
Results: The initial results showed that the participants in both the treatment group and the usual care control group had severe depression. After 10 weeks of the CBI, there was a significant reduction in depression among adult learners in the treatment group compared with those in the usual care control group. The follow-up assessment indicated a further significant reduction in depression among participants in the treatment group compared with those in the control group.
Conclusion: The CBI was effective in reducing depression among community-dwelling university adult learners in Nigeria.
Keywords: Beck Depression Inventory; Cognitive behavioural intervention; Nigeria; adult education; adult learner; community-dwelling; depression; randomized controlled trial.