Preventing depression in youth

Kernelementen van Cognitieve Gedragstherapie in de preventie van depressie in adolescenten

Core elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in preventing depression in youth: Does the type and sequence of elements matter?

Depression during adolescence is a major public health concern, because of its high prevalence, association with suicide, comorbid psychiatric diagnoses and high treatment costs. Even sub-clinical levels of depressive symptoms put adolescents at risk for several negative outcomes. Therefore, it is important that depression is detected at an early stage and is treated preventively. Prevention programs based on the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) have proven to be the most effective and most applied in preventing depression among adolescents. Thus far, research has mainly focused on effectiveness of “prevention packages” consisting of multiple CBT-elements. Most common CBT-elements in existing programs are cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation, relaxation and problem solving skills. It is unclear which of these elements contribute to the positive prevention outcomes and how these elements should be offered (i.e., what their optimal sequencing is). This study proposes to evaluate the differential (cost-)effectiveness of different types and sequences of CBT-elements in the prevention of depression among adolescents. In addition, moderators and mediators are examined.

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Funding

ZonMw (70-72900-98-15101).