WILLIAM R. BEARDSLEE, ELLEN J. WRIGHT, PATRICIA SALT, KAREN DREZNER, TRACY R.G. GLADSTONE, EVE M. VERSAGE, PHYLLIS C. ROTHBERG

To examine long-term effects of two forms of preventive intervention designed to increase families' understanding of parental affective disorder and to prevent depression in children. Thirty-six families who had a nondepressed child between ages 8 and 15 years and a parent who had experienced affective disorder were enrolled and randomly assigned to either a clinician-facilitated intervention or a lecture discussion group. Each parent and child were assessed prior to randomization, after intervention, and approximately 1 1/2 years after enrollment. Assessments included standard diagnostic interviews, measures of child and family functioning, and interviews about experience of parental affective disorder and intervention effects. Children in the clinician-facilitated group reported greater understanding of parental affective disorder, as rated by self-report, rater-generated scales, and parent report, and had better adaptive functioning after intervention. Parents in the clinician-facilitated intervention group reported significantly more change. Findings from both interventions support the value of a future-oriented resiliency-based approach. The greater effects of the clinician-facilitated intervention support the need for linking cognitive information to families' life experience and involving children directly in order to achieve long-term effects.