A randomized controlled trial of a preventive intervention for the children of parents with depression: mid-term effects, mediators and moderators.

Background: In a parallel randomized controlled trial the effectiveness of the family- and group-based cognitive-behavioural "Gug-Auf" intervention in preventing depression in children of depressed parents was evaluated. We hypothesized that the intervention would be associated with reduced incidence of depression at 15 months as well as with reduced symptom severity at 6, 9, and 15 months. We also explored the role of a number of mediators and moderators.

A randomised controlled trial of a family-group cognitive-behavioural (FGCB) preventive intervention for the children of parents with depression: short-term effects on symptoms and possible mechanisms.

Objective: Parental depression is one of the biggest risk factors for youth depression. This parallel randomized controlled trial evaluates the effectiveness of the German version of the family-group-cognitive-behavioral (FGCB) preventive intervention for children of depressed parents.

Methods: Families with (i) a parent who has experienced depression and (ii) a healthy child aged 8-17 years (mean = 11.