The Depression Prevention Initiative: Impact on Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in a Randomized Trial.

This randomized controlled trial examined the longitudinal effects of two school-based indicated depression prevention programs on adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as measured by adolescents, their parents, and their teachers. One hundred eighty-six adolescents participated in this study. The average age was 14.01 (SD = 1.22) years, and the sample was 66.7% female. One third of the sample belonged to a racial minority. Youth received either Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training or group counseling. Symptoms were assessed using adolescent, parent, and teacher reports on the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment at baseline, postintervention, and 6-month follow-up. Adolescents reported the most robust effects in favor of Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training. Adolescents in Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training reported significantly greater reductions in internalizing symptoms through the 6-month follow-up and significantly greater reductions in externalizing symptoms during the intervention as compared to group counseling. Less robust effects were found when examining parent and teacher reports, although there was evidence of significant within-group change in parent- and teacher-reported internalizing symptoms for both interventions and significant between-group differences in teacher-reported externalizing symptoms. This study provides additional evidence supporting the efficacy of Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training as a depression prevention program for adolescents. Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training appears to have fast-acting effects on broadband internalizing and externalizing symptoms as reported by adolescents. This suggests that Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training may serve as a transdiagnostic preventive intervention. Moreover, given the disparate reports of adolescents, parents, and teachers, this study demonstrates the significance of collecting information from multiple sources when possible.

Long-Term Effects from a School-Based Trial Comparing Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training to Group Counseling.

Adolescence represents a vulnerable developmental period for depression and an opportune time for prevention efforts. In this study, 186 adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms (M age = 14.01, SD = 1.22; 66.7% female; 32.2% racial minority) were randomized to receive either Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST; n = 95) delivered by research clinicians or group counseling (GC; n = 91) delivered by school counselors. We previously reported the short-term outcomes of this school-based randomized controlled trial: IPT-AST youth experienced significantly greater improvements in depressive symptoms and overall functioning through 6-month follow-up. Here, we present the long-term outcomes through 24 months postintervention. We examined differences in rates of change in depressive symptoms and overall functioning and differences in rates of depression diagnoses. Youth in both conditions showed significant improvements in depressive symptoms and overall functioning from baseline to 24-month follow-up, demonstrating the efficacy of school-based depression prevention programs. However, the two groups did not differ in overall rates of change or in rates of depression diagnoses from baseline to 24-month follow-up. Although IPT-AST demonstrated advantages over GC in the short term, these effects dissipated over long-term follow-up. Specifically, from 6- to 24-month follow-up, GC youth showed continued decreases in depressive symptoms, whereas IPT-AST youth showed a nonsignificant increase in symptoms. GC youth remained relatively stable in overall functioning, whereas IPT-AST youth experienced a small but statistically significant worsening in functioning. This study highlights the potential of school-based depression prevention efforts and the need for further research.