Prevention of Depression in At-Risk Adolescents

Vanderbilt University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression

Treatments: Behavioral: Cognitive-behavioral prevention program; Other: Usual care

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00073671

R01MH064503 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

R01MH064717 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

DSIR 84-CTP

R01MH064735 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

R01MH064541 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study examines the impact of a group cognitive behavioral program aimed at preventing depressive disorders and symptoms in adolescents at risk for developing depression.

Full description

Depression is a prevalent, chronic, and impairing condition that is often undetected and becomes more difficult to treat as chronicity increases. There is an increasing need to conduct large-scale depression prevention studies in adolescents. This study evaluates a cognitive-behavioral prevention (CBP) program to determine its effectiveness in preventing depressive disorders in at-risk adolescents. The study also will ascertain the costs this intervention to inform attempts at future dissemination of the program in "real world" settings.

Participants in this study are randomly assigned to receive either CBP for eight weekly and 6 monthly continuation sessions or usual care. Depressive symptoms and disorders, levels of functioning, and medical and mental health care utilization are assessed at baseline and again at 2, 8, 20, and 32 months after intake.

Enrollment: 316 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 13 to 17 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• A parent has had a depressive disorder during child's life
• Adolescent has had a past depressive episode or has current subsyndromal depressive symptoms measured on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)

Exclusion criteria

• adolescent or parent ever diagnosed with bipolar I or schizophrenia;
• adolescent has a current DSM-IV mood disorder diagnosis

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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316 participants in 2 patient groups

1= Cognitive behavioral prevention of depression program

Experimental group

Description:

Participants receive a group cognitive-behavioral prevention program, which involved 8 weekly sessions and 6 monthly sessions of CBT skills such as cognitive restructuring, problem-solving, assertivenss, and behavioral activation. Participants in this arm also were able to seek the same kinds of nonstudy treatments as described in the usual care arm.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cognitive-behavioral prevention program

2 = Usual care

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants receive usual care, which involves any type of treatment (e.g., psychotherapy, counseling, pharmacotherapy).

Treatment:

Other: Usual care