Effects of therapeutic intervention on childhood depression

The effect of a short-term residential therapeutic intervention on childhood depression was investigated. Treatment subjects (N=99; 8 to 12 years old) were children with severe behavior problems and learning disabilities. These children were predominantly from broken homes, low socioeconomic backgrounds, and were considered culturally and socially deprived. Comparison subjects (N=27; 8 to 12 yearsold) were drawn from a traditional school setting as similar as possible to that of the treatment subjects. Pre and posttesting was conducted with the Reynolds Childhood Depression Scale. Specifically, it was hypothesized that depression levels of the treatment group would significantly decrease, while depression levels of the comparison subjects would not. Statistical results show substantial support for this hypothesis in that, in contrast with the comparison groups, the depression levels of the treatment subjects did in fact decrease significantly.