The objective of this paper is to describe the opportunities and the challenges of conducting an online prevention intervention for adolescents with depressive complaints. A pilot study was conducted between 2005 and 2006 on the intervention Grip op je dip online [Master your mood online], an online group course conducted in a closed chat room. This group course for adolescents is based on Lewinsohn’s Coping with Depression course and utilises the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The intervention was led by mental health professionals and developed by the prevention units from three mental health care organisations in the Netherlands, in close participation with the Trimbos Institute (the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction). Results show that with this type of intervention it is possible to reach the target group and that after participating, the adolescents show a reduction of their depressive complaints as measured with the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Monitoring figures are presented, and our view of the future for Grip op je dip online is considered in closing.
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Gerrits et al. (2007) studied this question.
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