Prevention of Depression (POD) Study
NIH Reporter
Dates: 2/3/2003-1/31/2008
This study looked at whether a group program called cognitive behavioral prevention (CBP) could help stop depression in teens who were at risk. To be in the study, teens had to have a parent with depression and either a past episode of depression or mild symptoms themselves. Over five years, 320 teens from health care organizations were randomly placed in either the CBP program or usual care and followed for almost three years. We wanted to see if CBP could lower the chances of teens developing depression, improve their daily functioning, and reduce their need for medical or mental health care. We also checked if CBP helped with other problems and if it was cost-effective compared to usual care. This research was important because depression is common in teens, hard to treat once it becomes chronic, and there had never been a large study on preventing it before.
Selected Primary Outcome Papers:
- PMC - Prevention of Depression in At-Risk Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial