Abstract

The current research aimed to assess effectiveness of culturally adapted trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (CatCBT) in reducing media exposure induced secondary traumatic stress (MEISTS) in university students through two modalities, face-to-face and self-help interventions. It was hypothesized that face-to-face and self-help modalities of CatCBT would reduce MEISTS in comparison to waitlist control group. For this purpose, a pilot study was designed having a sample of N=30 participants, selected through purposive convenient sampling from two public sector universities of Karachi. The participants were then divided through random assignment into three groups: two intervention groups and one waitlist control group, each group having 10 participants. Pre and post assessments were done using the Secondary Traumatic Stress Media-Induced Questionnaire (STSM-IQ; Comstock & Platania, 2017), and Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire (CD-Quest; De Oliveira et al., 2015). Post intervention assessment indicated a significant reduction in MEISTS and cognitive distortions through both, face-to-face and self-help modality. Based on the post treatment assessment, it can be concluded that CatCBT can be an effective approach to deal with MEISTS in univesity students and especially the significant role of self-help modality in this regard can prove to be a step towards reducing the economic burden of mental health issues in low- and middle-income countries like Pakistan.