Resilience Research in Children
The Penn Resiliency Project
Investigators and Co-Directors: Jane Gillham, Ph.D. & Karen Reivich, Ph.D.
Phone: (215) 573-4128
Fax: (215) 746-6361
Email: info@pennproject.org
Background
The Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) is a school-based intervention curriculum designed to build resilience, promote adaptive coping skills, and teach effective problem-solving. A major goal of the study is to promote optimistic thinking to help children and adolescents respond to the daily challenges and problems that are encountered during the middle and high school years. The skills taught in the program can be applied to many contexts of life, including relationships with peers and family members as well as achievement in academics or other activities. The program has been found to be effective in helping buffer children against the effects of stress, including more serious levels of stress such as anxiety and depression.
The Curriculum
The PRP (designed by Jane Gillham, Ph.D., Lisa Jaycox, Ph.D., Karen Reivich, Ph.D., Martin Seligman, Ph.D. and Terry Silver) is a manual-based intervention comprised of twelve 90-minute group sessions. The curriculum teaches cognitive-behavioral and social problem-solving skills and is based in part on cognitive-behavioral theories of depression by Aaron T. Beck, Albert Ellis and Martin Seligman. Students are encouraged to identify and challenge negative beliefs, use evidence to make more accurate appraisals of situations and events, and to use effective coping mechanisms when faced with adversity. In addition to the cognitive-behavioral component, students learn techniques for assertiveness, negotiation, decision-making, and relaxation.
Past Research
Over the last 12 years, researchers have tested the PRP (also known as the Penn Optimism Program, or POP, and the Penn Depression Prevention Program) extensively in various settings and with diverse samples of participants. In the initial study evaluating the PRP, students identified as being at risk for depression were assigned to either the PRP intervention condition, or a usual-care condition. After two years, the students in the PRP condition were half as likely as students in the usual-care condition to report moderate to severe levels of depressive symptoms. Several studies testing the PRP curriculum have followed, most with encouraging results. For the past 9 years, most of our research on the PRP, including our current evaluation of a parent component, has been funded by the NIMH. For a summary of research evaluating the PRP, please contact our research team at info@pennproject.org.
Current Research: Evaluation of a Parent Component to PRP
Our research team is attempting to find ways of extending the effects of the PRP curriculum. We are currently working in collaboration with two school districts in the Philadelphia area to test the efficacy of a new parent program designed to accompany the adolescent intervention. In the parent program, parents learn to use the PRP skills in their own lives and to encourage their children’s use of these skills. Our hope is that parents will model the PRP skills at home long after the school-based intervention groups have ended. In addition, adolescents and parents now attend several booster sessions in the years following the intervention. The booster sessions review the critical concepts covered in the initial intervention. We hope that these new additions to the PRP will produce longer lasting intervention effects.
References:
Empirical Evaluations of PRP:
Cardemil, E.V., Reivich, K.J., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2002). The prevention of depressive symptoms in low-income minority middle school students. Prevention & Treatment, 5, np. (LINK: http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume5/pre0050008a.html )
Gillham, J.E. & Reivich, K.J. (1999). Prevention of depressive symptoms in schoolchildren: A research update. Psychological Science, 10, 461-462. (LINK: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/psci/10/5)
Gillham, J.E., Reivich, K.J., Jaycox, L.J., & Seligman, M.E.P. (1995). Prevention of depressive symptoms in schoolchildren: Two-year follow-up. Psychological Science, 6, 343-351.
Jaycox, L.H., Reivich, K.J., Gillham, J.E., & Seligman, M.E.P. (1994). Prevention of depressive symptoms in school children. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32 (8), 801-816.
Yu, D.L. & Seligman, M.E.P. (2002). Preventing depressive symptoms in Chinese children. Prevention & Treatment, 5, np. (LINK: http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume5/pre0050009a.html )
Zubernis, L.S., Cassidy, K.W., Gillham, J.E., Reivich, K.J., & Jaycox, L.H. (1999). Prevention of depressive symptoms in preadolescent children of divorce. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 30, 11-36.
Program Descriptions & Reviews:
Freres, D.R., Gillham, J. E., Reivich, K.J., & Shatté, A.J. (2002). Preventing depressive symptoms in middle school students: The Penn Resiliency Program. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 4, 31-40.
Gillham, J.E., Reivich, K.J., & Shatté, A.J. (2001). Building optimism and preventing depressive symptoms in children. In E.C. Chang (Ed.), Optimism & pessimism: Implications for theory, research, and practice (pp. 301-320). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Gillham, J.E., Shatté, A.J., & Freres, D.R. (2000). Preventing depression: A review of cognitive-behavioral and family interventions. Applied & Preventive Psychology, 9, 63-88.
Reivich, K.J., Gillham, J.E., Chaplin, T.M., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2005). From helplessness to optimism: The role of resilience in treating and preventing depression in youth. In S. Goldstein & R.B. Brooks (Eds.), Handbook of Resilience in Children (pp. 223-237). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Shatté, A.J., Reivich, K.J., Gillham, J.E., & Seligman, M.E.P. (1999). Learned optimism in children. In C.R. Snyder (Ed.), Coping: The Psychology of What Works (pp. 165-181). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can I sign my child up for a PRP group?
At this point, we are only offering PRP groups in the context of ongoing research studies that are being conducted in collaboration with school districts in the Philadelphia area. If your child's school is participating, you would have received a letter from our research team. Unfortunately, we do not currently have the staff available to offer groups to children and adolescents outside of these studies.
Many of the skills covered in PRP are used in cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression and anxiety. You may find it beneficial to connect with a cognitive-behavioral therapist specializing in work with children and adolescents. Three of the institutions in the Philadelphia area that provide cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression and anxiety are The Center for Cognitive Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania, the Beck Institute, and the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania. Referrals for cognitive-behavioral therapists can be found at:
http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/psycct/
http://www.beckinstitute.org/
http://www.med.upenn.edu/ctsa/index.html
Can I participate in one of your ongoing trainings for teachers/clinicians?
At this point, we primarily offer trainings to teachers and counselors who are leading groups as part of our research studies. It is not possible for other teachers and counselors to attend these trainings. Our investigators sometimes offer workshops for schools and other organizations. If you are interested in organizing a workshop, please send a message to info@pennproject.org with information about the workshop you are planning.
How can I get involved with research in the PRP lab?
We often have employment opportunities for motivated, interested undergraduate work-study research assistants. Work-study responsibilities include administering questionnaires and structured clinical interviews to adolescent participants as well as administrative tasks such as data entry, literature searches, and phone calls. Sometimes we have non work-study paid research assistant positions available and occasionally we accept volunteers who can make a significant time commitment to the project. If you are interested in applying, email info@pennproject.org for an application.
How can I get a copy of the PRP manual?
The PRP curriculum is available to qualified researchers who are interested in using PRP in a research study of their own. For more information and an application to use the materials, please contact info@pennproject.org
How can I contact someone at PRP?
Jane Gillham, Ph.D. & Karen Reivich, Ph.D., Co-Directors
Phone: (215) 573-4128
Fax: (215) 746-6361
Email: info@pennproject.org