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The prevention of anxiety and depression in children from disadvantaged schools

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Abstract

A randomised controlled trial evaluated the Aussie Optimism Program in preventing anxiety and depression. Grade 7 students (n = 496) from disadvantaged government schools in Perth Western Australia, participated. Six schools were randomly assigned to Aussie Optimism and six schools received their usual health education lessons. Students completed questionnaires on depression, anxiety, attribution style, and social skills. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist. No significant group effects were found for student-reported data. Parents of intervention group only students reported reductions in internalizing problems at post-test. No follow-up group effects were significant. Students and teachers found the program acceptable.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 496 Grade 7 students, aged between 11 and 13 years (M = 11.99, SD = .33), from 12 government primary schools in Perth, Western Australia. The schools were randomly sampled from the lowest decile of socio-economic status (SES) based on the Census Index of Relative Socio-economic Status (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1996). Pairs of schools were matched on SES, school size, and number of Grade 7 students, and members of each pair were randomised to conditions. There were 274

Design and data analysis

A cluster randomised control trial with a treatment as usual control group was conducted. Primary outcomes comprised student reports of anxiety and depression, and parent reports of internalizing symptoms. Secondary outcomes included student reported social skills and attribution style, and parent reports of externalizing symptoms.

A two-group (intervention versus control) ANCOVA for each outcome was conducted at each post-intervention assessment. In order to control for intra-school

Discussion

Contrary to expectations, student reports of anxiety and depression showed no significant group differences at any assessment point. Instead, the means for both groups declined within the normal range over time. Expected effects were found for intervention group parents, who reported lower levels of internalizing problems than controls at post-test. However, this effect was not sustained and was not apparent for externalizing problems. There were no group effects on the risk and protective

Acknowledgements

This research was completed in collaboration with the Western Australian Departments of Education and Health, in particular the Public Health and Mental Health Divisions. We acknowledge the significant contribution of the teachers who facilitated the program, and the teachers, students, and families that participated in the research. We thank the steering committee for their ongoing support and advice throughout the project, and acknowledge the work completed by research assistants who worked

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  • Cited by (0)

    1

    Donna Cross is currently at the School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Faculty of Computing, Health and Science, Edith Cowan University, 2 Bradford Street, Mt Lawley, WA 6050, Australia.

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