A Meta-Analytic Review of Depression Prevention Programs for Childrenand Adolescents: Factors That Predict Magnitude of Intervention Effects

摘要

In this meta-analytic review, the authors summarized the effects of depression prevention programs foryouth as well as investigated participant, intervention, provider, and research design features associatedwith larger effects. They identified 47 trials that evaluated 32 prevention programs, producing 60intervention effect sizes. The average effect for depressive symptoms from pre-to-posttreatment (r = .15)and pretreatment to-follow-up (r = .11) were small, but 13 (41%) prevention programs producedsignificant reductions in depressive symptoms and 4 (13%) produced significant reductions in risk forfuture depressive disorder onset relative to control groups. Larger effects emerged for programs targetinghigh-risk individuals, samples with more females, samples with older adolescents, programs with ashorter duration and with homework assignments, and programs delivered by professional intervention-ists. Intervention content (e.g., a focus on problem-solving training or reducing negative cognitions) anddesign features (e.g., use of random assignment and structured interviews) were unrelated to effect sizes.Results suggest that depression prevention efforts produce a higher yield if they incorporate factorsassociated with larger intervention effects (e.g., selective programs with a shorter duration that includehomework).