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A prospective cohort study of depression course, functional disability, and NEET status in help-seeking young adults

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 07 February 2017

Abstract

Purpose

To examine the associations between depression course, functional disability, and Not in Education or Training (NEET) status in a clinical sample of young adults with mental health problems.

Methods

Young adults aged 15–25 years seeking help from four primary mental health services were invited to participate in a prospective cohort study evaluating the course of psychiatric disorders in youth. Demographic and clinical characteristics, including depressive symptomatology and functioning, were evaluated through clinical interview and self-report at baseline and 12 month follow-up.

Results

A total of 448 young adults participated (70 % female; M: 20.05 years, SD = 2.85). A significant interaction effect for time and depression course was found, such that those who became depressed reported an increase in functional disability and those whose depression remitted reported a significant reduction in functional disability. Developing depression was not a significant predictor of becoming NEET and vice versa: remitted depression did not make a person more likely to reengage in employment or education.

Conclusions

This is the first study to examine the course of depression, functional disability, and NEET rates among help-seeking young adults. This study confirms the importance of symptom reduction for improved functioning; however, functional disability remained greater than that seen in young people in the community and there was no association between a change in depression and a change in NEET status. These results argue that services need to address functional outcomes and reengagement with education and employment in addition to symptom reduction.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a National Medical Health and Research Council (NHMRC) program Grant (# 566529). O’Dea and Lee are currently supported by an NHMRC Optymise Centre of Research Excellence Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. C. Pantelis was supported by an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship (628386 and 1105825). E. Killackey was supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fund for part of the period of this study. The authors would like to acknowledge all of the staff that worked on the Transitions Study as well as the young people who participated in the study and the clinical centres involved. The authors would also like to acknowledge Susy Harrigan and Andrew Mackinnon for the data handling and Stephen Wood for his feedback on an earlier draft.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Bridianne O’Dea, Rico S. C. Lee, Ian B. Hickie, Daniel F. Hermens & Nicholas Glozier

  2. Black Dog Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Bridianne O’Dea

  3. Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Patrick D. McGorry & Eoin Killackey

  4. Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Patrick D. McGorry, Rosemary Purcell, Eoin Killackey & G. Paul Amminger

  5. Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

    Jan Scott

  6. Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway

    Arnstein Mykeltun

  7. Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Rosemary Purcell

  8. Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Christos Pantelis

Authors
  1. Bridianne O’Dea
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bridianne O’Dea.

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Conflict of interest

Dr Glozier reports grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council during the conduct of the study, personal fees from Lundbeck, Servier and Janssen, outside the submitted work. Dr Hickie reports receiving grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council, NSW Health, and Drinkwise during the conduct of the study, and personal fees from Servier, Janssen, Astra Zeneca, and Pfizer outside the submitted work. Dr Hickie has previously served board membership with Headspace Australia, Psychosis Australia Trust, Australian National Council on Drugs, and Bupa Australia Medical Advisory Board. He is currently a co-director of the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, and is serving on the National Mental Health Commission and the Medibank Clinic Reference Group. Dr. Hermens has received honoraria for educational seminars from Janssen-Cilag and Eli Lilly. Dr Pantelis received support from NHMRC and also received personal fees from Servier, Janssen-Cilag, Eli-Lilly, Pfizer, Lundbeck, Astra Zeneca, and Pfizer, outside the submitted work. Dr Scott has received funding from the Medical Research Council UK and the Research for Patient Benefit, UK. All other authors have no interests to declare.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1336-6.

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O’Dea, B., Lee, R.S.C., McGorry, P.D. et al. A prospective cohort study of depression course, functional disability, and NEET status in help-seeking young adults. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 51, 1395–1404 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-016-1272-x

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