At-risk adolescents' comprehension of, and preferences for, the content of a text-message (SMS) delivered, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based depression prevention intervention was investigated using two qualitative studies. Adolescents with depressive symptoms and a history of peer violence were recruited from an urban emergency department. Forty-one participants completed semi-structured qualitative interviews. Thematic analysis using deductive and inductive codes were used to capture a priori and emerging themes. Five major themes were identified: CBT-based messages resonated with at-risk adolescents; high levels of peer violence, comorbid symptoms, and prior exposure to the mental health system were variables affecting preferred content; participants endorsed emotional regulation messages, but found mindfulness content difficult to understand via SMS; cognitive awareness and restructuring content was most acceptable when framed by self-efficacy content; adolescent participants generated applicable CBT content in their own voices. Overall, CBT-informed content was able to be distilled into 160-character text messages without losing its comprehensibility.
Keywords: adolescent; depression prevention; mobile health; qualitative; text messaging/SMS.