Family Prevention of Depression Project

Project Description 

This completed project was a two-site study that tested a multi-targeted prevention intervention for parents with depressive disorders (past or current) and their children aged 9 to 15. The family group intervention (FDP) leveraged existing evidence-based approaches including (a) coping skills and problem-solving training for children and adolescents of depressed parents, (b) parent training for parents with current or past depression, and (c) adult cognitive behavioral therapy techniques aimed directly at reducing parents’ depressive symptoms and preventing relapse and recurrence. The primary aim was to assess the effectiveness of FDP relative to a control group (psychoeducation / readings). Additional aims included examining mediators (e.g., parenting behaviors; parents’ cognitions; children’s coping), evaluating bidirectional effects between child and parent processes and outcomes, and exploring moderators (e.g., parental depression severity) of the intervention-outcome relation. Data collection for this project is complete, and the study is in the analysis phase.

This research is supported by an award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NCT02021578). You can find more information on the study here.