Playback Theatre Program for Adolescents and Youth

NCT07548463 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: HU-STA-00002313
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 120
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The research aims to investigate the effectiveness of playback theatre program on improving mental health for adolescents and youth. This study adopts a multicentre randomized control trial two arms research design. A randomised controlled trial will compare a typical 7-session therapeutic song-writing program with a waitlist-control group to determine whether the 7-session playback theatre program can produce better outcomes for young people with depressive symptoms, including improvement in depressive symptoms, self-stigma, self-esteem, sense of hope and social support at post-intervention. The 7-session playback theatre program will be delivered by trained and experienced social workers and helping professionals who are familiar with music therapy. A research staff, who does not involve in the group allocation and delivery of group intervention, conduct the intervention outcomes assessment of the participants before and after the intervention. Standardized assessment tools are used to assess the intervention outcomes. The ethical considerations of this study were reviewed and approved by the Human and Artefacts Ethics Sub-Committee of the City University of Hong Kong in 2026.

Conditions

Depresssion

Keywords

Young people; Depression; Playback theatre; Self-stigma; Hope; Randomized Control Trial

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• The Chinese Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-Y)

  The Chinese Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS; Wang et al., 2016) DASS is a 21-item scale to assesses participants' self-reported depression, anxiety, and stress with good validity and reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.80 for the DASS Anxiety subscale, 0.83 for the DASS Depression subscale, 0.82 for the DASS Stress subscale, and 0.92 for the DASS total scale). Each item (e.g. I felt down-hearted and blue) is scored from 0 (did not apply to me at all) to 3 (applied to me very much or most of the time). The scores are summed over the items with higher scores indicating a higher severity of symptoms

  It will be used before and after the intervention (over 7-weeks)

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• The Chinese Internalised Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI)

  It will be used before and after the intervention (over 7-weeks)

• The Chinese Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES)

  It will be used before and after the intervention (over 7-weeks)

• The Chinese Hope Scale (HOPE)

  It will be used before and after the intervention (over 7-weeks)

• The Chinese Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)

  It will be used before and after the intervention (over 7-weeks)

Study Arms (2)

Intervention group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Playback theatre program

Behavioral: Playback theatre program

Waitlist Control

OTHER

Waitlist control group will receive will receive treatment as usual provided by the collaborative centres and secondary schools, including recreational activities and interest classes, at the initial stage and will receive the same playback theatre program at a later stage.

Behavioral: Waitlist control group

Interventions

Playback theatre program BEHAVIORAL

The playback theatre program consists of 7 sessions. One session will be conducted per week, with each session lasting for about 90 minutes. A social worker and a helping professional who is familiar with music therapy will be recruited to run the playback theatre program at a collaborative social service centre and school. A standardized program manual is designed by the research team. The social worker and a counsellor who run the playback theatre program will receive training and supervision on conducting the playback theatre program by the research team

Intervention group

Waitlist control group BEHAVIORAL

Waitlist control group will receive will receive treatment as usual provided by the collaborative centres and schools, including recreational activities and interest classes, at the initial stage and will receive the same playback theatre program at a later stage

Waitlist Control

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 24 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• aged between 13 to 24 years;
• having mild to moderate depression and/or anxiety as assessed using a standardized assessment tool, i.e. Chinese Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-Youth (DASS-Y) with a DASS-Y Depression score between 5 and 12;
• service users of The Salvation Army social service unit; and
• giving informed consent to this research work. For those aged below 18, parental consent will be obtained.

You may not qualify if:

• Those with severe depression (i.e. a DASS-Y Depression score ≥ 13) and/or severe anxiety (i.e. a DASS-Y Anxiety score ≥ 8) are excluded from this study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• City University of Hong Kong: lead
• The Salvation Army, Hong Kong and Macau Command: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

City University of Hong Kong

Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

RECRUITING

Related Publications (8)

• Zhou K, Chen J, Huang C, Tang S. Prevalence of and factors influencing depression and anxiety among Chinese adolescents: a protocol for a systematic review. BMJ Open. 2023 Mar 23;13(3):e068119. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068119.

  PMID: 36958770 BACKGROUND

• Wang K, Shi HS, Geng FL, Zou LQ, Tan SP, Wang Y, Neumann DL, Shum DH, Chan RC. Cross-cultural validation of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 in China. Psychol Assess. 2016 May;28(5):e88-e100. doi: 10.1037/pas0000207. Epub 2015 Nov 30.

  PMID: 26619091 BACKGROUND

• Munjuluri S, Bolin PK, Amy Lin YT, Garcia NL, Gauna L, Nguyen T, Salas R. A Pilot Study on Playback Theatre as a Therapeutic Aid after Natural Disasters: Brain Connectivity Mechanisms of Effects on Anxiety. Chronic Stress (Thousand Oaks). 2020 Nov 3;4:2470547020966561. doi: 10.1177/2470547020966561. eCollection 2020 Jan-Dec.

  PMID: 33210057 BACKGROUND

• Lo LLH, Suen YN, Chan SKW, Sum MY, Charlton C, Hui CLM, Lee EHM, Chang WC, Chen EYH. Sociodemographic correlates of public stigma about mental illness: a population study on Hong Kong's Chinese population. BMC Psychiatry. 2021 May 29;21(1):274. doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03301-3.

  PMID: 34051783 BACKGROUND

• Li XH, Wong YI, Wu Q, Ran MS, Zhang TM. Chinese College Students' Stigmatization towards People with Mental Illness: Familiarity, Perceived Dangerousness, Fear, and Social Distance. Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Aug 27;12(17):1715. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12171715.

  PMID: 39273739 BACKGROUND

• Jiang C, Zhu Y, Luo Y, Tan CS, Mastrotheodoros S, Costa P, Chen L, Guo L, Ma H, Meng R. Validation of the Chinese version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale: evidence from a three-wave longitudinal study. BMC Psychol. 2023 Oct 18;11(1):345. doi: 10.1186/s40359-023-01293-1.

  PMID: 37853499 BACKGROUND

• Ho SM, Ho JW, Bonanno GA, Chu AT, Chan EM. Hopefulness predicts resilience after hereditary colorectal cancer genetic testing: a prospective outcome trajectories study. BMC Cancer. 2010 Jun 11;10:279. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-10-279.

  PMID: 20537192 BACKGROUND

• Duagi D, Carter B, Farrelly M, Lisk S, Shearer J, Byford S, James K, Brown JSL. Long-term effects of psychosocial interventions for adolescents on depression and anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis. EClinicalMedicine. 2024 Jan 5;68:102382. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102382. eCollection 2024 Feb.

  PMID: 38273890 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Depression

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Central Study Contacts

Kim-wan Daniel Young, PhD

CONTACT

+852 34428954; dkwyoung@cityu.edu.hk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR
• Masking Details: A research staff, who is blinded to the group allocation and does not involve in the delivery of group interventions, conduct the intervention outcomes assessment of the participants before and after the intervention.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: ProfessorThe

Model Details: A randomized controlled trial will compare a typical 7-session playback theatre program with a waitlist-control group. Intervention group. The playback theatre program consists of 7 sessions. One session will be conducted per week, with each session lasting for about 90 minutes. A social worker and a helping professional who is familiar with music therapy will be recruited to run the playback theatre program at a collaborative social service centre and school. A standardized program manual is designed by the research team. The social worker and a counsellor who run the playback theatre program will receive training and supervision on conducting the playback theatre program by the research team

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 17, 2026
• First Posted: April 23, 2026
• Study Start (Estimated): September 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2027
• Last Updated: April 23, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Locations

HK (1)