Thirty-seven families who had a child between the ages of 8 and 15(mean age = 12.0 years) and had at least one parent who hadexperienced a recent episode of affective disorder were assignedrandomly to one of two psychoeducational interventions. Theinterventions (clinician-facilitated or lecture-group discussion) weredesigned to prevent childhood depression and related problems throughdecreasing the impact of related risk factors and encouragingresiliency-promoting behaviors and attitudes. They were similar incontent but differed in the level of the children's involvementand the degree to which the families' individual life experienceswere linked to the educational material. Assessments included standarddiagnostic and social functioning instruments and interviews designedspecifically for this project to assess behavior and attitudechange. Each parent and child was individually assessed by separateassessors who were blind to information about the other familymembers. Parent participants in both groups reported being satisfiedwith the intervention. Clinician group participants reported asignificantly larger number of overall changes, as well as higherlevels of change regarding communications about the illness with theirchildren and increased understanding by the children of theirillness. Significantly more children in the clinician group alsoreported they gained a better understanding of parental affectiveillness as a result of their participation in the project.