{
  "abstract": "Background: Rates of mental health problems in adolescents have increased in the last decade, prompting urgent calls for effective, scalable preventative interventions. To determine whether a novel, group-based, transdiagnostic indicated prevention programme (Building Resilience through Socioemotional Training; ReSET), delivered through existing school mental health provision, improves mental health and wellbeing in at-risk adolescents. Methods: Two-arm cluster randomised controlled superiority trial (1:1) evaluating ReSET plus usual care versus usual care only, with outcomes assessed immediately post-intervention and at 12-month follow-up. Adolescents aged 12–14 identified through whole-school screening as scoring in the top 25th percentile for overall psychopathology symptoms, in schools selected to over-represent high-need communities (≥30% free school meals eligibility). ReSET is an 8-session group -based intervention that targets two key mechanisms implicated in risk for psychopathology in adolescents – social functioning and emotional processing. Pre-registered co-primary outcomes were overall self-reported psychopathology (SDQ) and wellbeing (WEMWBS), assessed immediately post-intervention and at 12-month follow-up. Results: Of 4,005 adolescents screened, 1465 met eligibility, 727 consented and 560 were enrolled. There was no evidence of intervention effects on either co-primary outcome immediately post-intervention. At 12-month follow-up, there was evidence of improvement in overall psychopathology (adjusted mean difference −1.36, 97.5% CI −2.23 to −0.50, p=0.0004; SMD=0.25, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.42). Secondary outcomes showed a consistent pattern: no effects immediately post-intervention, but significant benefits for anxiety, depression, general psychopathology, and internalising symptoms at 12-month follow-up. No effects on externalising symptoms were observed at either timepoint. Conclusions: The delayed emergence of benefit is consistent with a skills-based prevention model in which adolescents acquire skills that support resilient functioning when facing subsequent emotional and interpersonal challenges. These findings suggest that transdiagnostic interventions targeting socioemotional processes have the potential to prevent common adolescent mental health problems, though replication and longer-term evaluation are needed.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Pasco Fearon"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alex Lloyd"
    },
    {
      "name": "Peter Martin"
    },
    {
      "name": "Roslyn Law"
    },
    {
      "name": "Laura Lucas"
    },
    {
      "name": "Tom (Chin-Han) Wu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nick Midgley"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nikolaus Steinbeis"
    },
    {
      "name": "René Veenstra"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jaime Smith"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/69g1vnjgnmfzv.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31234/osf.io/kjuae_v2",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "69g1vnjgnmfzv",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/kjuae_v2/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Clinical Psychology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Social and Behavioral Sciences"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://osf.io/kjuae/download",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-06",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/69g1vnjgnmfzv.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-06T12:21:46Z",
      "native_id": "kjuae",
      "source": "osf",
      "url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/kjuae_v2/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "bepress:Clinical Psychology",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of a Transdiagnostic Preventative Mental Health Intervention for Adolescents: Building Resilience through Socioemotional Training (ReSET)",
  "title_text": "A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of a Transdiagnostic Preventative Mental Health Intervention for Adolescents: Building Resilience through Socioemotional Training (ReSET)",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-07T12:21:29Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/69g1vnjgnmfzv",
  "venue": "PsyArXiv",
  "versions": []
}