Trial reportBMC psychiatry2023
A randomized controlled trial of a preventive intervention for the children of parents with depression: mid-term effects, mediators and moderators.
Trial report in BMC psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02115880 (PRimary Prevention Of Depression in Offspring of Depressed Parents), which is not on this map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
PRimary Prevention Of Depression in Offspring of Depressed Parents
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Perceived Need and Social Relatedness Contribute to Change in Selective Prevention for Mental Illness: a Mixed Methods Study.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2025Trial
- Mediators of a randomized controlled trial of a preventive intervention for youth of parents with depressive disorders.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2025Trial
- Competence and Coping in the Family Group Cognitive Behavioral (FGCB) Preventive Intervention: a Moderated Mediation Model in Youth at Risk for Depression.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2026Article
- An Investigation of Family Functioning Among Caregiver-Adolescent Dyads Seeking Emergency Department Care for Adolescent Suicide Risk.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2026Article
- Barriers to participating in an online family- and group-based prevention programme for parents with depression: an online survey.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- The Impact of Maternal Childhood Trauma on Children's Problem Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Maternal Depression and the Moderating Role of Mindful Parenting.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn a parallel randomized controlled trial the effectiveness of the family- and group-based cognitive-behavioural "Gug-Auf" intervention in preventing depression in children of depressed parents was evaluated. We hypothesized that the intervention would be associated with reduced incidence of depression at 15 months as well as with reduced symptom severity at 6, 9, and 15 months. We also explored the role of a number of mediators and moderators.
methodsFamilies were included if a parent (n = 100, mean age = 46.06, 61% female) had experienced depression and children (n = 135, aged 8-17 years, 53% female) had no mental illness. Families (91.5% German) were randomly allocated (50:50 block-wise; stratified by child age and parental depression) to the 12-session "GuG-Auf" intervention or no intervention. Outcomes were assessed (on an intention-to-treat basis) at 0-(T1), 6-(T2), 9-(T3) and 15-months (T4) after baseline. Primary outcome (onset of depression; T4) was assessed with standardized (blinded) clinical interviews. Secondary (unblinded) outcome was risk of depression (at T2-T4) indicated by self- and parent-reported symptoms of internalizing, externalizing and depressive disorder. Potential mediators were emotion regulation, attributional style, knowledge of depression and parenting style. Potential moderators were parental depression severity and negative life events.
resultsNone of the children who received the intervention developed depression, whereas two of those in the control group did. The intervention significantly reduced depression risk (indicated by severity of self-reported internalizing symptoms) at T3 (p = .027, d = -0.45) and T4 (p = .035, d = -0.44). Both groups showed reduced depressive symptoms (p = .029, d = -0.44). Cognitive problem-solving and negative parenting emerged as mediators. There was no evidence that the intervention was associated with parent-reported internalizing symptoms or externalizing symptoms. No adverse events were observed.
conclusionsChildren of parents with depression showed an increase in self-reported (but not parent-reported) internalizing symptoms over time. This increase was not present in children who received the GuG-Auf intervention. The intervention was not associated with changes in externalizing symptoms. Conclusions regarding prevention of the onset of depression were not possible. Despite some limitations in the generalizability, these findings contribute to reducing the burden of youth depression. REGISTRATION: The trial was registered on 16/04/2014 at ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT02115880 ) and study protocol published in BMC Psychiatry ( https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-014-0263-2 ).
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