Prevention of Depression in At-Risk-Adolescents

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is one of four interlocking R01's to assess the impact of a group cognitive behavioral program (CBP) on the prevention of depression in adolescents at risk for depression. Eligible teens must have a parent with active depression; teens themselves must have either a past depressive episode or current subsyndromal depressive symptoms. In this 5-year study, 320 at-risk adolescents (80 at each site) drawn from managed care organizations will be randomized to either CBP or usual care (UC) and followed for 32 months post intake to determine the impact of CBP vs. UC on onset of depressive disorders and symptoms, level of functioning, and medical and mental health care utilization. We hypothesize that participants in the CBP intervention will have a significantly lower prospective incidence of first and repeated episodes of depressive disorders and symptoms compared to adolescents in the usual care group. In addition, we will explore whether participants in CBP have a reduced prospective incidence of non-affective symptoms and disorders, and will show improved global functioning relative to the comparison group. Analyses also will focus on the incremental cost-effectiveness of providing the CBP over usual care from the health care perspective. This study builds on previous work by the Portland site (Clarke et al., 2001) showing a nearly six-fold reduction in the incidence of depression in CBP vs. UC, and extends this work in two ways - first, by testing whether the program can be replicated at several different sites, thereby greatly increasing the generalizability of the original findings; and second, by changing the timing and spacing of the intervention to provide continuation sessions to prolong the duration of the effect of CBP. This program of research is significant for several reasons: (1) depression is a chronic, prevalent, and impairing condition in adolescence that is often undetected, and which is more difficult to treat as chronicity increases; (2) there have been no large-scale studies of the prevention of depression in adolescence; and (3) by basing this study in managed care organizations, it will be possible to ascertain the costs and benefits of incorporating this intervention into "best practice" in real world settings. This application is based in Nashville (Judy Garber, PI), and interlocks with applications from Boston (William Beardslee, PI), Pittsburgh (David Brent, PI), and Portland (Greg Clarke, PI).