Two universal school-based prevention programs for depression and anxiety: 24-Month follow-up of an RCT.

Background And Objectives: Transdiagnostic approaches have been promoted as a means of maximising preventative effects across multiple problems with depression and anxiety suitable targets as they appear to have highly interconnected systems in pathology development and maintenance. This study investigated long-term effects of two universal school-based programs, Emotion Regulation (ER) and Behavioral Activation (BA), that sought to prevent depression and anxiety by targeting worry (a transdiagnostic feature) to promote resilience.

Methods: This follow-up study captured data from 162 of 316 initial students (aged 8-13; 52.