Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2015 Aug;83(4):736-47.
doi: 10.1037/ccp0000022. Epub 2015 Apr 20.

Effectiveness trial of an indicated cognitive-behavioral group adolescent depression prevention program versus bibliotherapy and brochure control at 1- and 2-year follow-up

Paul Rohde  1 , Eric Stice  1 , Heather Shaw  1 , Jeff M Gau  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness trial of an indicated cognitive-behavioral group adolescent depression prevention program versus bibliotherapy and brochure control at 1- and 2-year follow-up

Paul Rohde et al. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: The main goal of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of a brief group cognitive-behavioral (CB) adolescent depression indicated prevention program through 2-year follow-up, relative to CB bibliotherapy and brochure control, when high school personnel recruited students and delivered the program.

Method: Three hundred seventy-eight adolescents (M age = 15.5, SD = 1.2; 68% female, 72% White) with elevated self-assessed depressive symptoms who were randomized to CB group, CB bibliotherapy, or educational brochure control were assessed at pretest, posttest, and 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month follow-up.

Results: By 2 years postintervention, CB group participants showed significantly lower major depressive disorder (MDD) onset versus CB bibliotherapy (10% vs. 25%, respectively; hazard ratio = 2.48, p = .006), but the incidence difference relative to brochure controls (17%) was nonsignificant; MDD incidence for bibliotherapy and brochure controls did not differ. Although CB group participants showed lower depressive symptoms at posttest versus brochure controls, there were no effects for this outcome or for social adjustment or substance use over 2-year follow-up. Moderator analyses suggested that participants with higher baseline depressive symptoms showed greater long-term symptom reductions in the CB group intervention versus bibliotherapy.

Conclusions: The evidence that a brief CB group intervention delivered by real-world providers significantly reduced MDD onset versus CB bibliotherapy is potentially encouraging. However, the lack of MDD prevention effects relative to brochure control and lack of long-term symptom effects (though consistent with results from other depression prevention trials), suggest that the delivery of the CB group should be refined to strengthen its effectiveness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Participant Flow Chart
Figure 2
Figure 2
Survival curves for the onset of major depression over the 2-year follow-up period by intervention condition.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Simple slopes at low, medium, and high levels of baseline depression symptom severity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abayomi K, Gelman A, Levy M. Diagnostics for multivariate imputations. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C (Applied Statistics) 2008;57:273–291.
    1. Ackerson J, Scogin F, McKendree-Smith N, Lyman RD. Cognitive bibliotherapy for mild and moderate adolescent depressive symptomatology. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology. 1998;66:685–690. - PubMed
    1. Aiken LS, West SG. Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage; 1991.
    1. Arnarson EO, Craighead WE. Prevention of depression among Icelandic adolescents: A 12-month follow-up. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2011;49:170–174. - PubMed
    1. Beardslee WR, Brent DA, Weersing VR, Clarke GN, Porta G, Hollon SD, Gladstone TR, et al. Prevention of depression in at-risk adolescents: longer-term effects. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013;70:1161–1170. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types