Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Pre-Post Effectiveness Among Rural Ugandan Women in Depression Management

Depression is a prevalent mental health condition affecting rural populations in Uganda, with limited access to effective interventions. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 120 rural Ugandan women diagnosed with moderate to severe depression. Participants were randomly allocated into a CBT group and a control group (standard care). Pre-post intervention assessments included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for measuring depressive symptoms. Post-intervention PHQ-9 scores showed a significant improvement in the CBT group compared to baseline, with an average reduction of 4.5 points (CI: -6.2 to -2.8). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy significantly improved depressive symptoms among rural Ugandan women. Further research should explore long-term effects and scalability of CBT for depression in rural settings. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.