School‐based prevention of depression: a randomised controlled study of thebeyondblueschools research initiative

Abstract

Despite using an extensive, structured programme, based on best evidence to increase protective factors and reduce risk factors at the individual and school levels, the intervention did not reduce levels of depressive symptoms among participating adolescents. The results draw attention to the difficulties faced when implementing large-scale, school-based, universal preventive interventions. These include the need to develop methods to effectively train teachers across large geographical regions to deliver new interventions with fidelity, the difficulty of engaging young adolescents with prevention programmes, and the long period of time required to implement policy and practice changes at 'whole-school' levels.

Associations between teacher emotional support and depressive symptoms in Australian adolescents: A 5-year longitudinal study.

“…The prevention program comprised four elements, including (a) a classroom intervention aimed at improving problem solving and social skills, resilient thinking style, and coping strategies; (b) an element to build supportive environments (including decision making, conflict resolution, classroom discipline, staff relations, and antibullying); (c) an element to enhance partnerships between families, school staff, education support/welfare personnel, and community-based health professionals to facilitate students' access to professional services at school and in the wider community; and (d) community forums to provide students, their families, and school personnel with information to assist them with identifying problems, to seek help for themselves, and to help peers. Analyses revealed no significant differences in depressive symptoms and risk and protective factors experienced by students between intervention and control groups over a 3-year period (Sawyer et al, 2010). However, no separate analyses considering stressful situations in students were calculated.…”

“…(For a detailed description of the eligibility criteria, the selection protocol, and the demographics of the participating schools, see Sawyer et al, 2009Sawyer et al, , 2010. Parental consent was received for 5,633 (63%) who were invited to participate.…”

“…A large body of work pointing to the positive impact of supportive relationships on depression in adolescents (for a review see Rudolph, Flynn, & Abaied, 2008) has resulted in the development of interventions designed to reduce depressive symptoms by improving supportive relationships in schools (Sawyer et al, 2010) and student social skills (Pös-sel, Adelson, & Hautzinger, 2011;Pössel, Seemann, & Hautzinger, 2008). However, not all studies' findings clearly support the notion that supportive relationships ameliorate depression.…”

Developing a model of mental health self-care support for children and young people through an integrated evaluation of available types of provision involving systematic review, meta-analysis and case study

“…running summer camps and liaising with teachers (MTA 1999 95 ), or facilitating the child in the home-school environment (Pfiffner 2007 102 ). In three-quarters (53/71) of the studies, the agents were trained specifically for the intervention, 39,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][72][73][74][77][78][79][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90]93,94,99,100,[103][104][105][106][108][109]…”

A non-randomised pragmatic trial of a school-based group cognitive-behavioural programme for preventing depression in girls

“…DISA groups are led by paraprofessionals such as teachers, school nurses, school counsellors or youth workers, which makes DISA similar to the beyondblue Schools Research Initiative [21] and the Penn Resiliency Programme [11]. In order to be able to lead DISA groups, the paraprofessionals take part in three days of theoretical training and have supervision during their first implemented group.…”