Designing and Testing a Family Therapy for Adolescent Depression
Designing and Testing a Family Therapy for Adolescent Depression
This study will design and test a cognitive behavioral therapy for depressed adolescents that
 uses family interactions to help with treatment.
Adolescent depression causes persistent feelings of sadness, loss of self-worth,
 discouragement, and loss of interest in usual activities. Treatments for adolescent
 depression have mixed success, with 25% to 40% of depressed adolescents still experiencing
 depressive symptoms at the end of the most effective treatments and gains made in treatment
 sometimes fading over time. Research suggests that family processes are associated with the
 effectiveness of treatments for adolescent depression and with reducing symptoms over time.
 Evidence also shows that treatments developed and tested in a research setting are not easily
 applied to community settings. This study will first design a cognitive behavioral therapy
 for adolescent depression that will involve the families of the depressed adolescents and
 then test the therapy in several settings, including clinics.

 Development of this therapy will involve five different groups of participants. Each group
 will include both depressed adolescents and a parent or guardian. The first group of
 participants will partake in a focus group, in which they will break into two discussion
 groups, one of parents and guardians and one of adolescents, that will discuss what kind of
 help and information would be useful to them and why they would consider seeing a therapist.

 The second group will participate in alpha testing, which will involve receiving the first
 version of the therapy. The therapy is anticipated to include 8 to 12 weekly treatment
 sessions, with homework assignments to practice their learned skills in everyday life.
 Participants in alpha testing will also complete interviews and questionnaires at Week 7 and
 at the end of treatment to assess satisfaction with treatment, treatment clarity, and
 usefulness of the information and strategies they learned. After alpha testing, the therapy
 will be revised based on the feedback received. The third group will participate in beta
 testing, which will involve receiving the second version of the therapy and completing the
 same assessments as those done by the alpha group.

 The fourth group of participants will receive pilot testing of the finalized therapy. This
 finalized version will involve 11 to 15 weekly sessions. The fifth group will receive
 treatment as usual from a mental health clinic and serve as a control group to compare to the
 pilot testing group. Before and after treatment, both of these groups will complete
 questionnaires and interviews assessing the effectiveness of their treatment and
 questionnaires and observations of family functioning. All sessions throughout the study
 involving the newly designed family therapy will be videotaped.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Family with an adolescent between 14 and 18 years of age and at least one parent or
 permanent guardian with whom the adolescent resides

 -  Family's primary concerns include depressive symptoms

 -  Adolescent has a score above 24 on the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression
 Scale

 -  Family will be seeking services at the community mental health center that is
 associated with the study

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Adolescents presenting with evidence of severe difficulties associated with comorbid
 conditions, such that the focus of treatment would need to shift to nonaffective
 symptoms

 -  Adolescents evidencing symptoms of mania or psychoses or with suicidal behaviors
 requiring inpatient care

 -  Adolescents with cognitive limitations of severity that will preclude meaningful
 participation in the study