Depression outcomes associated with an intervention implemented in employment training programs for low-income adolescents and young adults.

Importance: Recent estimates indicate that 6.5 million adolescents and young adults in the United States are neither in school nor working. These youth have significant mental health concerns that require intervention.

Objective: To determine whether a mental health intervention, integrated into an employment training program that serves adolescents and young adults disconnected from school and work, can reduce depressive symptoms and improve engaged coping strategies.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A quasi-experimental study was conducted; 512 adolescents and young adults newly enrolling in one employment training program site were intervention participants, while 270 youth from a second program site were enrolled as controls. Participants were aged 16 to 23 years and not in foster care. Study recruitment took place from September 1, 2008, to May 31, 2011, with follow-up data collection occurring for 12 months after recruitment. Propensity score matching adjusted for observed baseline differences between the intervention and control groups.

Main Outcomes And Measures: Depressive symptoms measured on a Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and engaged coping strategies.

Results: The mean age of participants was 19 years, 93.7% were African American, and 49.4% were male. Six- and 12-month follow-up rates were 61.0% (n = 477) and 56.8% (n = 444), respectively. Males in the intervention group with high baseline depressive symptoms exhibited a statistically significant decrease in depressive symptoms at 12 months (5.64-point reduction in CES-D score; 95% CI, -10.30 to -0.96; P = .02) compared with similar males in the control group. A dosage effect was observed at 12 months after the intervention, whereby males with greater intervention exposure showed greater improvement in depressive symptoms compared with similar males with lower intervention doses (effect on mean change in CES-D score, -3.37; 95% CI, -6.72 to -0.09; P = .049). Males and females in the intervention group were more likely than participants in the control group to increase their engaged coping skills, with statistically significant differences found for males (effect on mean change in CES-D score, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.14-0.50; P = .001) and females (effect on mean change in CES-D score, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.01-0.37; P = .047) at 12 months.

Conclusions And Relevance: Given the growing number of adolescents and young adults using employment training programs and the mental health needs of this population, increased efforts should be made to deliver mental health interventions in these settings that usually focus primarily on academic and job skills. Ways to extend the effect of intervention for females and those with lower levels of depressive symptoms should be explored.