Determining the impact of the NLP4Kids© NLP programme on symptoms of anxiety and depression in child

Determining the impact of the NLP4Kids© NLP programme on symptoms of anxiety and depression in children as measured by the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale. Introduction The World Health Organisation (WHO) define mental health as a state of “well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”1. Despite the importance of positive mental health being well established, recent emerging data suggests a deterioration in mental health amongst children. Specifically, anxiety and depressive disorders have become more common amongst 5 to 15-year olds with rates increasing from 3.9% in 2004 to 5.8% in 20172. In order to combat this, the NLP4Kids© franchise was established to deliver a series of classes on mental wellbeing which are catered for children and young people3. Each class targets a different element of mental health and is embedded with neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) methodology. Although NLP4Kids© has collated anecdotal data to suggest an improvement in children’s mental health, they have yet to collate any quantitative data to reinforce this claim. Therefore, a research study was designed to determine the impact, if any, of the NLP4Kids© programme on metrics of children’s anxiety and depression using a validated research questionnaire. Methods A prospective questionnaire-based study was designed. Children enrolled onto the NLP4Kids© programme would be asked to complete the 25-item Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) short form survey prior to and following completion of the NLP4Kids© programme; the 25item RCADS has been shown to be a robust scoring tool for symptoms of childhood anxiety and depression4. A two-tailed paired t-test analysis was then used to determine if there was any statistically different, defined as a p value <0.05, between pre and post intervention 25-item RCADS anxiety and depression symptom scores. Results 13 participants were identified for inclusion in the final study 1 student being excluded due to incomplete data. Of the 13 included, 8 (62%) were male and 5 (38%) were female. The breakdown of students per year group is shown in Figure 1. Of the 25 domains within the RCADS questionnaire, the NLP4Kids© intervention lead to a reduction in the mean score in 20 of the 25 domains (80%) assessing severity of anxiety and depression symptoms (Figure 2). When comparing the difference in average symptom scores as per the 25-item RCADS score, there was a statistically significant reduction in the severity of symptoms in the anxiety, depression and anxiety and depression domains following the NLP4Kids© intervention (Table 1) (Figure 3). Discussion Based upon the pilot data collected, there is an evidently significant positive impact of the NLP4Kids© NLP programme in reducing the symptoms of anxiety and depression as per the 25-item RCADS score. Further studies are needed utilising larger data sets and a control comparison group to further delineate the impacts of the NLP4Kids© programme. Additional studies identifying the impact of the NLP4Kids© on additional metrics of mental health would be of interest and are warranted. References 1. https://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/en/ 2. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-ofchildren-and-young-people-in-england/2017/2017 3. https://nlp4kids.org/ 4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28475961