Do school-based depression prevention
programs support youth?
Commissioned by the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavior Health, this review examines research on the effects of school-based depression prevention programs. We specifically reviewed evidence on programs delivered directly to K-12 students during the school day.
This review is being converted to a living systematic review. Update expected: May 2025
Our interactive dashboards can help you compare study findings across different contexts and see which interventions had beneficial effects, and explore all the research used in our review:
This brief was created by HEDCO Institute Undergraduate Scholars Hanna Dussan and Megan Sebree in 2024. This user-friendly brief accompanies their peer-reviewed publication, which highlight gaps in education research.
Learn more about the programs
For more information on the programs included in the review and their characteristics (e.g., cost, student age, curriculum goals), visit our Program Profiles supplement.
Technical Resources
A free e-book version of the technical report is available here on GitHub.
A downloadable version of our technical report—and our protocol, data, code, and materials—are available here on the Open Science Framework.