The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects a cognitive behavioral intervention on perceived stress, somatic symptoms, automatic negative thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes in college students.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a nonequivalent control group design. Students who agreed to participate in the study and had a total score of 7 or greater on the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 were asked to choose one of the two groups to attend: Experimental and control groups. Students in the experimental group (N=17) received 5-weekly group sessions of the intervention, each of which lasted 60 minutes. The interventions were not provided to the control group (N=15). Students in both groups were asked to complete a set of questionnaires at baseline and five weeks. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and t-test, Mann-Whitney U test and repeated measures ANOVA were performed.

There was a significant interaction between time and group for perceived stress, somatic symptoms and automatic negative thoughts. Dysfunctional attitudes, on the other hand, were not significantly different by group.

The findings showed that the intervention was effective for college students suffering from perceived stress and somatic symptoms. In particular, the significant decrease in automatic negative thoughts among students in the intervention group suggests that the effect of the cognitive-behavioral intervention was mediated by the cognitive factors of somatic symptoms.