Session: Transdiagnostic Processes and Outcomes in Preventive Interventions with at-Risk Youth (Society for Prevention Research 24th Annual Meeting)

SESSION INTRODUCTION: Diagnostic comorbidity and symptom covariation are pervasive characteristics of psychopathology in children and adolescents.  These phenomena have led to the emergence of “transdiagnostic” approaches to the treatment of multiple disorders/symptoms with single interventions.  However, transdiagnostic approaches have been slower to influence preventive interventions in young people (e.g., Martinsen et al., 2014).  This symposium will present novel findings and approaches to analyzing changes in symptoms from three depression prevention interventions. The presentations will highlight the importance of examining transdiagnostic effects of preventive interventions on multiple correlated/comorbid outcomes. The three papers represent different models of prevention (cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and family) that target change in multiple types of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and use data analytic approaches both capture intervention effects and processes of change.

The first paper, “Prevention of Depression in At-Risk Adolescents: Spillover Effects on Non-Targeted Domains,” reports on the effects of an indicated preventive intervention for adolescents at risk for depression.  Building on the effects of the intervention on reducing the onset of depression, this paper reports on the “spillover” effects of the intervention on a wide range of symptoms including generalized anxiety, eating problems, defiant behavior, and substance use.

The second paper, “Examining Transdiagnostic Outcomes from the Depression Prevention Initiative,” presents findings from an indicated preventive intervention, Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training, designed to prevent depression. Results add additional support to previous research supporting the efficacy of IPT-AST and suggest that the effects of IPT-AST extend beyond depressive symptoms to internalizing and externalizing problems more broadly and to specific subtypes of these broad band dimensions.

The third paper, “Temporal Sequence of Change in Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in a Preventive Intervention for Children of Depressed Parents,” presents findings on the sequence of change in symptoms of anxiety and depression in a selected family depression prevention intervention for offspring of depressed parents. The findings show that the intervention had beneficial effects on symptoms of depression and anxiety relative to an active control condition, and that the rate of change in symptoms of anxiety predicted the subsequent rate of change of symptoms of depression in this intervention.

The discussant will highlight the implications of these findings for next steps in the development of preventive interventions for at-risk youth that affect multiple domains of symptoms and disorders and methods for detecting patterns of change in comorbid symptoms