The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of class-wide positive peer reporting (PPR) and group-oriented contingency intervention program on depressive symptoms. In the PPR intervention, children were encouraged to monitor and report peers’ incidental prosocial behaviors. In conjunction with the PPR, interdependent group-oriented contingency, in which the entire class received a predetermined group reinforcer when the class met their cumulative goal (i.e., 100 reports), was also conducted. Thirty-three children (20 boys and 13 girls) from fifth grade participated in the intervention program for a duration of 25 days. Comparison of pre and post intervention results indicated that PPR in combination with a group-oriented contingency procedure decreased children’s depressive symptoms significantly. These results indicate that PPR intervention has the possibility to improve depressive symptoms in elementary school children and supports the interpersonal model of depression in Japanese children. Additionally, the results indicate a need for further investigation on ways of dealing with the social environment to prevent depression in children.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a short-term sleep improvement program for the elderly; the intervention was implemented thrice over 2 weeks. The intervention group included a total of 39 elderly people living on an isolated island; 16 from island A and 23 from island B. The results showed that the frequency of sleep-improving behavior increased, and the severity of sleep disorder decreased; improvements were also observed in subjective experiences of falling asleep, feeling of sleeping deeply, and awareness during the daytime. However, the effect of the program on the severity of sleep disorder may be lesser. In addition, analysis of each remote island showed that the improvement of participants in remote island A was larger than those in remote island B in terms of improvement in sleep disorder and in parts of the subjective evaluation. Therefore, the findings suggest that short-term programs may also serve as effective means of improving sleep among elderly people.

The purpose of this study was to verify the effect of work-focused cognitive-behavioral group therapy for employees on sick leave due to depression. The intervention consisted of 8 weekly therapy sessions, of 150 minutes each, for 21 people (11 men, 10 women; average age 40.52±8.45 years) whose main complaint was depressive symptoms. The Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Revised, Cognitive Control Scale, Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale, Environmental Reward Observation Scale, and Sense of Acceptance and Sense of Rejection measurement scales were used to measure the process variables. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale-6, Social Adaptation Self-evaluation Scale, and Difficulty in Returning to Work Inventory were used to measure the effect variables. Each variable was evaluated before and after the intervention. Analysis showed improvement in the process variables, suggesting validity of this program. The results showed improvements in depression, anxiety symptoms, social adaptation, and a partial improvement in difficulty in returning to work. Additionally, turnover rate was high and dropout rate was low among these employees, indicating effectiveness of work-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy.