A Family Depression Prevention Program
Condition: Depression
MeSH terms: Depression; Depressive Disorder
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The primary aim is to prevent depression in youth and parents in a single, integrated family
      intervention.

      Hypothesis 1a: Children in the Family Depression Prevention (FDP) program will have
      significantly lower levels of anxious/depressive symptoms and fewer onsets of depressive
      episodes as compared to children in the Written Information (WI) condition.

      Hypothesis 1b: In parents, the amount of time in a depressive episode will be significantly
      lower for those in the FDP program as compared to those in the WI condition.
    

Detailed description: 
      Depression is a major public health problem affecting over 15 million U.S. adults annually
      and is especially prevalent in those of parenting age. Offspring of depressed parents are at
      increased risk of depression and therefore are a critical target for preventive
      interventions. The current study aims to reduce the rate of depression in parents and their
      children by adopting an innovative, family-based approach to simultaneously preventing
      depression in at-risk youth and in their affected parents. The rationale for this approach is
      based on (a) a conceptual model that integrates parenting processes, stress (particularly
      that which is associated with parental depression), and children's self-regulatory skills in
      the face of stress, (b) evidence that depression runs in families, (c) promising results from
      family- and child-focused depression prevention programs, (d) evidence that in adults,
      cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) reduces both depressive episodes and their recurrence, and
      (e) growing consensus among scientists, clinicians, and policymakers on the need for
      family-based models of healthcare. This 5- year, two-site randomized controlled trial will
      test a Family Depression Prevention (FDP) program for children (ages 9-15) and their parents
      with depressive disorders (past or current). This "dual prevention" approach is a novel
      synthesis of existing evidence-based intervention techniques drawn from child prevention and
      adult treatment models. Participating families (N=300) will be randomized to either FDP (10
      weekly + 3 monthly sessions) or a written information comparison (WI) condition. All parents
      and children will be evaluated at pre- and post-intervention, and at 6-, 12-months from
      baseline.
    

Intervention name(s): Family Cognitive Behavioral Prevention; Written information
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Parent training and cognitive behavioral intervention with parents. Coping skills training with children.; Reading materials about depression
Other intervention name(s): Cognitive behavioral intervention; Coping skills training; Parent training; Psychoeducation; Self-help
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Depression; Mood disorder