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Accepted manuscript

The place of school-based strategies for universal, selective, and indicated prevention for depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2025

Louise Birrell Open the ORCID record for Louise Birrell [Opens in a new window] ,
Lucinda Grummitt ,
Helen Christensen  and
Maree Teesson
Louise Birrell*
Affiliation:
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Lucinda Grummitt
Affiliation:
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Helen Christensen
Affiliation:
Black Dog Institute & Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Maree Teesson
Affiliation:
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
*
Corresponding author: Louise Birrell, email louise.birrell@sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

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In response to the question ‘what is the place of universal, selective and indicated prevention strategies for depression and other mood disorders’ posed by Hickie et al. (2024) we examine the role of school-based strategies for universal and targeted (including selective and indicated) prevention of depression. Schools represent a unique opportunity for systematic evidence-based depression prevention, targeting key developmental risk periods before peak depression onset. However, the realisation of this potential has been challenging particularly for universal approaches. We summarise the evidence for each of these tiers of prevention, including recent large-scale trials of universal prevention in high-income countries. Targeted approaches show more consistent preventive effects on depression however hold significant implementation challenges in the school context. We provide recommendations about next steps for the field including a continuum of support across all levels of prevention outlined above and broadening current strategies to focus on the school contexts and structural factors in which prevention programs are delivered, as well as teacher mental health.

Type
Impact Paper
Information
Research Directions: Depression , Accepted manuscript , pp. 1 - 22
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press