Effects of a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Workshop Intervention on Social Anxiety Among Secondary Vocational...

Social anxiety and related mental health problems in secondary school students require urgent attention. Workshop interventions are particularly suited for school settings, as they can be delivered in a single day and accommodate large groups of participants. This study examined the effects of a 1-day workshop, grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), on outcomes such as social anxiety among secondary school students. A total of 89 secondary school students participated in the study, with 44 assigned to the intervention group and 45 to a wait-list control group. The effects of group (intervention vs. wait-list control) and time (pre-intervention T1, post-intervention T2, and 1-month follow-up T3) on social anxiety symptoms, negative emotional symptoms, social anxiety knowledge, attitudes toward professional help-seeking, social anxiety stigma, and fear of negative evaluation were analyzed using linear mixed models. Compared to the control group, the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in social anxiety symptoms, negative emotional symptoms, social anxiety knowledge, and professional help-seeking attitudes. At the 1-month follow-up, social anxiety knowledge had the largest effect size (d = 1.00), and social anxiety symptoms, negative emotional symptoms, and professional help-seeking attitudes had medium effect sizes (d = 0.45-0.64). The CBT-based workshop enhanced social anxiety knowledge and attitudes toward seeking professional help among secondary students, and these effects persisted at the 1-month follow-up. Furthermore, the workshop reduced secondary students' social anxiety and negative emotions-a change that, although not as rapid as immediately after the intervention, was significant at the 1-month mark.