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CATEGORY/THEME: Prevention Science and Emerging High-Priority Policy Issues or Scaling Effective Childhood Interventions
ASBTRACT BODY:
Introduction:Depression is identified as a priority disorder among children and adolescents due to its high prevalence, association with health and social problems, and longer term consequences. Whilst numerous reviews have examined the individual and family factors that contribute to child and adolescent depressive symptoms, less is known about community-level risk and protective factors. The aim of the current study was to complete a systematic review to identify community risk and protective factors for depression in school-aged children (4-18 years).
Method:The review adopted the procedures recommended by the Cochrane Non-Randomised Studies Methods Working Group and PRISMA guidelines. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify both observational and intervention study designs in both peer-reviewed and non-peer reviewed publications.
Results:A total of 222 full text articles were reviewed, resulting in 22 studies that met the inclusion criteria. 18 of the 19 community association studies and 2 of the 3 intervention studies reported one or more significant effects. Results indicated that community safety and community ethnicity and discrimination act as risk factors for depressive symptoms in school-aged children. Community disadvantage may act as a risk factor by influencing the role of other community-level factors. The impact of community connectedness and cohesion on depressive symptoms may also be mediated by other factors such as community disadvantage.
Conclusions: The lack of systematic research has been noted in policy documents and hence the current study provides a significant contribution to the field of child and adolescent depression. There is evidence that a number of potentially modifiable community-level risk and protective factors influence child and adolescent depressive symptoms, suggesting the importance of continuing research and intervention efforts at the community-level.