title: Prevention of depression among Icelandic adolescents: a 12-month follow-up.
abstract: This paper reports the 12-month follow-up results regarding a program designed to prevent the initial episode of depression and/or dysthymia among Icelandic adolescents. This indicated prevention program was implemented in school settings for 14-15 year-old students judged to be "at risk" for depression because of the presence of some depressive symptoms and/or a negative attributional style. We previously reported (Arnarson & Craighead, 2009) that this program, when compared to treatment-as-usual, was effective in preventing the first episode of depression and/or dysthymia at 6-months following completion of the program. Survival analyses of the 12-month follow-up data indicated that the preventive effects were sustained at the end of 1 year following the completion of the prevention program with only 2 of the prevention program participants reporting an initial episode of MDD/DYS versus 13 of the TAU participants (χ(2)=5.02, p=.025). Using logistic regression, we also found that initial level of depressive symptoms significantly (p=.0330) predicted the first episode of depression and/or dysthymia among TAU subjects. The limitations of the study were noted, and future directions of research regarding prevention of depression were discussed.
authors.affiliation: Landspitali-University Hospital, University of Iceland, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Eirikur Orn
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Arnarson
authors.forename: W Edward
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Craighead
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003863:Depression / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012307:Risk Factors; D012572:School Health Services; D016896:Treatment Outcome