Preventing depressive symptoms in school children

This thesis describes two studies which investigated the effectiveness of the Depression Prevention Program (DPP) in preventing depressive symptoms in children. The DPP is a group intervention which teaches children cognitive-behavioral and social problem-solving techniques. In the first study, we followed 69 fifth and sixth grade children at risk for depression, for two years after they participated in the DPP. We compared these children to 50 children in a no treatment control group. The prevention group reported significantly fewer depressive symptoms through the two year follow-up. There was evidence for long term relief from depressive symptoms in children who initially reported depressive symptoms, as well as evidence for prevention of depressive symptoms in children who initially reported few or no symptoms. The prevention program also improved children's explanatory style. The effects of the prevention program grew over time after the completion of the program. The second study had two goals. The first goal was to replicate the initial results of the DPP. The second goal was to test the effects of adding a parent component to the DPP. Ninety-four 5th and 6th grade children were assigned to one of three groups: Child-and-Parent, Child-Only, and Control. Children in the Child-and-Parent condition participated in the DPP. Their parents participated in a separate group for parents. Children in the Child-Only condition participated in the DPP. Their parents did not participate in the parent groups. Control children and parents did not participate in any groups. The DPP was successful at relieving depressive symptoms and preventing symptoms through a 6 month follow-up. Inclusion of the parent component did not significantly improve the program's prevention effect, and there was some evidence that the parent component may in fact have reduced this effect.