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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1356816
This article is part of the Research Topic A Collection of Systematic Reviews or Meta-Analyses on the Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for Social, Health and Psychological Well-Being View all 5 articles
Effectiveness of Preventive Interventions on Teens' Depression and Suicidal Tendency: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Provisionally accepted- 1 School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
- 2 Director, Research and international affairs at Cheeloo Medical College, Shandong University,, School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
- 3 University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States
Objective: To review the effectiveness of preventive mental health interventions for teens (11-19 years) to reduce depression and suicidal tendencies.: A Systematic search was conducted and literature of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) was extracted from the databases PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and APA PsycINFO for the period of 2011-2024. Using firm inclusion/exclusion criteria, studies were included if they reported preventive interventions to address depression and suicidal tendencies among teens. Systematic review registration: CRD42023384321. Results: Out of 1210 studies, 13 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were incorporated. The interventions yielded varied outcomes, with approximately half demonstrating a decrease in depression and suicidal tendencies, comparable to controls. Post-intervention, most interventions exhibited mild to moderate effect sizes; nevertheless, further evidence is needed to assess their longterm efficacy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)-based psycho-education interventions served as the primary approach, often implemented within school settings. However, specialists rather than teachers predominantly delivered these interventions. Incorporating parental involvement in treatment could potentially enhance the effectiveness of preventive interventions. Conclusions: Numerous interventions in this review showed comparable effects to control groups.However, the diversity in methodology, intervention types, and outcome measures presents challenges in drawing definitive conclusions. Therefore, future research should prioritize addressing these methodological discrepancies within their respective contexts.
Keywords: Teens, Depression, Suicide, prevention, promotion
Received: 02 Feb 2024; Accepted: 05 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ghazal, Cui, Cao and Sivarajan Froelicher. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lubna Ghazal, School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, Shandong Province, China
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