The experimental group will be provided with 4 weeks intervention, one hour each, followed by one booster session at 1 month post-intervention.

The waitlist control group will be provided with 4 weeks intervention, one hour each, followed by one booster session at 1 month post-intervention.

Participants assigned to this intervention will receive a structured, manual-based online GCCBT intervention delivered via Zoom. The program consists of four weekly group sessions, each lasting approximately 60 minutes, followed by a booster session conducted one month after completion of the intervention.

Sessions will be conducted by the researcher, a clinical psychologist, under the supervision of a senior clinical psychologist with formal training and expertise in group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (GCBT). The intervention follows a structured progression beginning with psychoeducation, followed by cognitive skill development and behavioural techniques. The later sessions emphasise consolidation of learnt skills, peer support, and relapse-prevention planning.

The content and delivery of the intervention are designed to be relevant and sensitive to the experiences of international university students.

The GAD-7 is a 7-item self-report measure used to assess the frequency and severity of anxiety symptoms in clients 11 and older. Aligned with the DSM-V-TR criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) the results of this measure can support accurate diagnoses, establishment of treatment goals based on symptom severity, and guide effective clinical interventions.

Scores of 5, 10, and 15 are taken as the cut-off points for mild, moderate and severe anxiety, respectively. When used as a screening tool, further evaluation is recommended when the score is 10 or greater.

Using the threshold score of 10, the GAD-7 has a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 82% for GAD. It is moderately good at screening three other common anxiety disorders - panic disorder (sensitivity 74%, specificity 81%), social anxiety disorder (sensitivity 72%, specificity 80%) and post-traumatic stress disorder (sensitivity 66%, specificity 81%).

The PHQ-9 is a widely recognized self-report questionnaire used to screen for depression severity. It's a simple yet powerful tool, comprising nine questions that mirror the nine diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder from the DSM-IV. Understanding how to score phq 9 is the first step in interpreting your results.

A score of ≥10 is considered a sensitive and specific cut-off for major depressive disorder. Whereas, a score ≥15 strongly indicates the presence of clinically significant depression.

The ATQ is a psychological assessment tool designed to measure the frequency of negative automatic thoughts, particularly in individuals with depression.

ATQ consists of 30 items, each describing a common negative automatic thought relevant to depression, such as "I am a failure" or "I can't cope." Respondents rate how frequently they have experienced each thought over a specified period, typically the past week, using a structured Likert scale. This systematic approach transforms fleeting internal experiences into quantifiable data points.

WHOQOL-BREF is a self-report questionnaire that contains 26 items and addresses 4 QOL domains: physical health (7 items), psychological health (6 items), social relationships (3 items) and environment (8 items). Two other items measure overall QOL and general health.

Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale (low score of 1 to high score of 5) to determine a raw item score. Subsequently, the mean score for each domain is calculated, resulting in a mean score per domain that is between 4 and 20. Finally, this mean domain score is then multiplied by 4 in order to transform the domain score into a scaled score, with a higher score indicating a higher QOL.