School-Based Prevention of Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents: A 6-Month Follow-Up

• NCJ Number: 206504
• Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 43 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2004 Pages: 1003-1010
• Author(s): Patrick Possel; Andrea B. Horn; Gunter Groen; Martin Hautzinger
• Editor(s): Mina K. Dulcan M.D.
• Date Published: August 2004
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report presents findings from a 6-month evaluation study on the universal school-based prevention program, Ease of Handling Social Aspects in Everyday Life-Training (LISA-T) in the prevention of depressive symptoms among adolescents.

Abstract

Depressive disorders in adolescents are a widespread problem with far-reaching psychosocial consequences. LISA-T, a universal school-based prevention program, was developed to prevent the increase in depressive symptoms among adolescents. Program expectations included the reduction of dysfunctional automatic thoughts and the improvement in social skills. This study presents findings from an evaluation of the LISA-T program which included a training group and a nontreatment control group with pre- and post- measurement and 3- and 6-month follow-up. The study consisted of 324 students. The study considered adolescents with an initial risk status of minimal symptoms as well as adolescents with subsyndromal depression. Adolescents who had participated in the prevention program and who reported minimal initial depression scores did not experience significant increases in their scores during the following 6 months. However, adolescents with minimal depression scores who did not participate in the program showed significantly increased depression scores. Overall, LISA-T has a preventive effect on the development of depressive symptoms in the experimental groups with minimal depressive symptoms. It was concluded that increases in depressive symptoms in adolescents with minimal symptoms can be prevented for a 6-month follow-up period. However, additional research is needed to gain greater insight into the causal mechanism of the program and explain the failure to find significant positive effects on adolescents who were initially diagnosed with clinically relevant depressive symptoms. Tables, references