Adults 36 Months to 83 Months, any sex, with Depressive Disorder, Major. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.
Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov
Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.
Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia - Early Childhood (KSADS-EC) MDD Core Symptom ScorePrimary· completion of therapy (average of 20 weeks)
The Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia - Early Childhood (K-SADS-EC) is a semi-structured clinical interview for DSM-5 disorders adapted for use in children aged 3-6. The MDD core symptom score was the number of core MDD symptoms endorsed on the K-SADS-EC. These 9 symptoms were (1) depressed mood, (2) anhedonia, (3) insomnia/hypersomnia, (4) fatigue, (5) decreased concentration, (6) weight/appetite change, (7) psychomotor agitation/retardation, (8) worthlessness/guilt, (9) suicidal thoughts/behaviors. The range of possible values is 0-9, with 9 being the worst outcome.
Group
Value
95% CI
PCIT-ED
1.74
± 1.69
Wait List
4.15
± 2.04
Preschool Feelings Checklist-Scale Version (PFC-Scale) ScoreSecondary· completion of therapy (average of 20 weeks)
The Preschool Feelings Checklist - Scale Version (PFC-Scale), was adapted from the PFC, which is a validated screening checklist used to capture young children at high risk for MDD. The PFC-Scale is a 23-item Likert scale with possible values of 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 for each item. The total score is a sum of the 23 items, so the range of possible values is 0-92, with 92 being the most severe score possible.
Group
Value
95% CI
PCIT-ED
20.13
± 9.68
Wait List
33.24
± 11.12
Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) ScoreSecondary· completion of therapy (average of 20 weeks)
The Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) is a standardized instrument that measures children's global level of impairment completed by the clinician-rater. The possible range of values is 0-100, with 0 indicating the most severe global impairment.
Group
Value
95% CI
PCIT-ED
76.83
± 16.61
Wait List
55.75
± 17.14
Sponsor's own description
Parent Child Interaction Therapy Emotion Development (PCIT-ED) will be conducted with a sample of preschoolers who exhibit symptoms of depression compared to a wait list (WL) control after which participants will receive the active treatment. PCIT-ED is an expansion of PCIT, a well-known, widely used and proven effective treatment for preschool disruptive disorders. To address early disturbances of mood and affect, a novel ED module was added based on empirical data in emotion development. The ED module targets parent emotion learning skills with the goal of training the parent to serve as a more effective emotion teacher and coach to the child. The goal of the ED module is to enhance the child's capacity for emotion recognition and regulation or "emotional competence." In order to test the efficacy of PCIT-ED, to estimate accurate effect sizes and to investigate mediators and moderators of treatment response participants will complete comprehensive pre-, interval, and post-assessments.
Preschoolers over 3 will be offered the option of enrolling in an add-on electroencephalography and magnetic resonance imagery study, to investigate neural changes associated with PCIT-ED.
Compared to those randomized to the WL, preschoolers who undergo PCIT-ED will show significantly increased rates of remission, greater reductions in MDD symptoms, and decreases in impairment; and will show significantly greater increases in emotional competence measured by the ability to accurately identify emotions in themselves and others and the ability to effectively regulate intense emotions. Compared to those on the WL, parents who undergo PCIT-ED will show significantly greater increases in emotion skill learning and reductions in MDD symptoms and parenting stress.
Publications & conference data
8 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):
Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 10 June 2026
Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by Washington University School of Medicine
Last refreshed: 2 December 2019
Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT02076425.