Reducing Health Risk Behaviors and Improving Depression in Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Primary Care Clinics.

Objective: Primary care (PC) is a major service delivery setting that can provide preventive behavioral health care to youths. To explore the hypothesis that reducing health risk behaviors (HRBs) would lower depressive symptoms, and that health risk and depression can be efficiently targeted together in PC, this study (1) evaluates an intervention designed to reduce HRBs among adolescent PC patients with depressive symptoms and (2) examines prospective links between HRBs and depressive symptoms.

Method: A Randomized controlled trial was conducted comparing a behavioral health intervention with enhanced Usual PC (UC+).

Long-term benefits of short-term quality improvement interventions for depressed youths in primary care.

Objective: Quality improvement programs for depressed youths in primary care settings have been shown to improve 6-month clinical outcomes, but longer-term outcomes are unknown. The authors examined 6-, 12-, and 18-month outcomes of a primary care quality improvement intervention.

Method: Primary care patients 13-21 years of age with current depressive symptoms were randomly assigned to a 6-month quality improvement intervention (N=211) or to treatment as usual enhanced with provider training (N=207).

Adolescent primary care patients' preferences for depression treatment.

Despite efficacious treatments for depression in youth, current data indicate low rates of care. To better understand reasons for these low rates of care, we examined treatment preferences for depression treatment. Adolescents (N=444) who screened positive for depression at a primary care visit completed measures of predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics thought to be related to help seeking.

Depression and role impairment among adolescents in primary care clinics.

Purpose: To evaluate the association between depression and role impairment in a primary care sample, with and without controlling for the effects of general medical conditions.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey of consecutive primary care patients, ages 13-21 years (n = 3471), drawn from six sites including public health, managed care, and academic health center clinics. We assessed probable depressive disorder, depressive symptoms, and common medical problems using youth self-report on a brief screening questionnaire.

Effectiveness of a quality improvement intervention for adolescent depression in primary care clinics: a randomized controlled trial.

Context: Depression is a common condition associated with significant morbidity in adolescents. Few depressed adolescents receive effective treatment for depression in primary care settings.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a quality improvement intervention aimed at increasing access to evidence-based treatments for depression (particularly cognitive-behavior therapy and antidepressant medication), relative to usual care, among adolescents in primary care practices.