A 12-month follow-up of a selective, transdiagnostic prevention intervention for adolescents at-risk for emotional disorders: results from the PROCARE+ study

Abstract

Few studies have reported long-term follow-up data on selective preventive interventions for adolescents. No follow-up selective transdiagnostic preventive studies for adolescents at-risk for emotional disorders have been reported. To fill this gap, this study aims to provide the first follow-up assessment of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) studying selective transdiagnostic prevention in at-risk adolescents. A 12-month follow-up assessment was conducted with subjects who originally received either PROCARE (Preventive transdiagnostic intervention for Adolescents at Risk for Emotional disorders), PROCARE+, which includes the PROCARE protocol along with personalized add-on modules or an active control condition (ACC) based on emotional psychoeducation, and their respective booster session for each experimental condition. 82 subjects who completed these treatment conditions were available for the 12-month follow-up. Results demonstrate that the maintenance of gains for treated subjects in PROCARE and PROCARE+ one year after treatments are greater than in ACC, being PROCARE+ the one with the largest treatment outcome gains.