Ja. Durlak et Am. Wells, Evaluation of indicated preventive intervention (secondary prevention) mental health programs for children and adolescents, AM J COMM P, 26(5), 1998, pp. 775-802
Evaluated the outcomes of 130 indicated preventive interventions (secondary
prevention) mental health programs for children and adolescents that seek
to identify early signs of maladjustment and to intervene before full-blown
disorders develop. Results indicate such programs significantly reduce pro
blems and significantly increase competencies. In particular behavioral and
cognitive-behavior programs for children with subclinical disorders (mean
ESs in the 0.50s) appear as effective as psychotherapy for children with es
tablished problems and more effective than attempts to prevent adolescent s
moking, alcohol use, and delinquency. In practical terms the average partic
ipant receiving behavioral or cognitive-behavior intervention surpasses the
performance of approximately 70% of those in a control group. Of particula
r interest was the high mean effect (0.72) achieved by programs targeting i
ncipient externalizing problems which are customarily the least amenable to
change via traditional psychotherapeutic efforts when they reach clinical
levels. priorities for future research include greater specification of int
ervention procedures, assessment of treatment implementation, more follow-u
p studies, and identifying how different participants respond to early inte
rvention.