W.H. van den Heuvel will defend her PhD dissertation on Thursday 12 January 2023, entitled: ’Rise and Shine like a STARr. Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of CBT-interventions for the prevention of adolescent depression‘.
- Promotor
- Promotor
- Co-promotor
- Date
- Thursday 12 Jan 2023, 13:00 - 14:30
- Type
- PhD defence
- Space
- Senate Hall
- Building
- Erasmus Building
- Location
- Campus Woudestein
- More information
The public defence will begin exactly at 13.00 hrs. The doors will be closed once the public defence starts, latecomers may be able to watch on the screen outside. There is no possibility of entrance during the first part of the ceremony. Due to the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.
A live stream link has been provided to the candidate.
Summary:
In the Netherlands, in a class of 25 secondary school students, an average of one student has a depressive disorder and five students have a subclinical depression. A subclinical depression can be a precursor to a depressive disorder. Therefore, it is important to detect adolescents with these symptoms early and target prevention programs accordingly. The goal of my dissertation was to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of depression prevention in adolescents, specifically Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). First, we found that there are differences in how adolescents cope with a stressful event. We distinguished four profiles. One profile stood out in particular, namely maladaptive regulators (adolescents who use few helping and many non-helping strategies). They reported more depressive symptoms relative to the other profiles. This shows which youths are particularly at risk for depression.
Next, we found that the social costs of adolescents with subclinical depression exceed 42 million euros per year in the Netherlands. Major cost items are school absenteeism, mental health care and homework assistance. The magnitude of the costs justifies structural government funding for depression prevention. Finally, we examined the relative effectiveness of four commonly used CBT elements (cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation, problem solving, relaxation) and variations in their sequencing in indicated depression prevention. We found no differences in effect after 3 sessions, at post-measurement and 6-month follow-up. We also found no differences in what works for whom (gender, age and symptom level). This allows trainers to tailor the sequence of elements to adolescents' preferences.
