Efficacy of a Counselling Video Blog Intervention from YouTube on Depression Reduction Among Primary School Teachers

Background: Objective: This study investigated the efficacy of a counselling video blog (vlog) from YouTube on depression reduction among primary school teachers in Nigeria. Methods: A 10-week group-randomized trial (GRT) was employed for this clinical investigation. Ninety-seven primary school teachers who had severe depression participated in the study. The authors used Beck’s Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) to collect data for the study. The authors used ANOVA with repeated measures to analyse the data collected in the study. Results: From the results the authors obtained, treatment and no-treatment group participants had severe depression at the initial assessment. However, exposure to a 10-week counselling vlog on YouTube reduced depression among participants in the treatment group, while those in the no-treatment control group still maintained severe depression. There was a significant reduction in depression among participants in the treatment group at the follow-up assessment, while no significant reduction was observed in the no-treatment control group at the follow-up assessment. Conclusion: From the findings of this study, YouTube channels should be utilized for different kinds of counselling. Specifically, counsellors should adopt vlog counselling in depression treatment.