Resilience and Depression in Children: Mental Health Promotion in Primary Schools in China

Abstract

This population-based study reports depression rates in primary schools in China and application of a holistic intervention program to promote resilience and prevent depression in primary schools using a prospective intervention research design. Kovaks’ Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) was used to measure depressive symptoms in children and a student survey was developed to measure student resilience and associated protective factors. A health-promoting school intervention approach was used to promote resilience to prevent depressive symptoms. The study indicates that 13.2% of primary school children were clinically depressed. Resilience had a statistically negative relationship with depression. The intervention significantly reduced sub-clinical depressive symptoms in intervention schools. The study provides school staff, health and education officials and researchers with increased understanding of the significance of mental health issues among young people, and valuable guidelines to help implement intervention programs for prevention of mental health problems in children.