Does the Absence of a Supportive Family Environment Influence the Outcome of a Universal Intervention for the Prevention of Depression?

Susan H. Spence, Michael G. Sawyer, Jeanie Sheffield, George Patton, Lyndal Bond, Brian Graetz and Debra Kay
Additional contact information
Susan H. Spence: Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
Michael G. Sawyer: Research and Evaluation Unit, Women's and Children's Hospital, and Discipline of Paediatrics, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Jeanie Sheffield: School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Sir Fred Schonell Dr., St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
George Patton: Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, University of Melbourne, 2 Gatehouse Street, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
Lyndal Bond: Centre of Excellence in Intervention and Prevention Science, 15-31 Pelham Street South Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia
Brian Graetz: beyondblue, P.O. Box 6100, Hawthorn West, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
Debra Kay: International Centre for Allied Health Research, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, City East Campus, Cnr of North Terrace and Frome Rd., Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: To date, universal, school-based interventions have produced limited success in the long-term prevention of depression in young people. This paper examines whether family relationship support moderates the outcomes of a universal, school-based preventive intervention for depression in adolescents. It reports a secondary analysis of data from the beyondblue schools research initiative. Twenty-five matched pairs of secondary schools were randomly assigned to an intervention or control condition ( N = 5633 Grade 8 students). The multi-component, school-based intervention was implemented over a 3-year period, with 2 years of follow-up in Grades 11 and 12. For those available at follow-up, small but significantly greater reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms and improvements in emotional wellbeing were found over time for the intervention group compared to the control among those who experienced low family relationship support in Grade 8. For those who did not experience low family relationship support in Grade 8, no significant effects of the invention were found over the control condition. This pattern of results was also found for the intent-to-treat sample for measures of depression and anxiety. Previous research may have overlooked important moderating variables that influence the outcome of universal approaches to the prevention of depression. The findings raise issues of the relative costs and benefits of universal versus targeted approaches to the prevention of depression.

Keywords: depression; anxiety; prevention; adolescents; school (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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