Evaluating the Effectiveness of Early Cognitive Behavioral Therapy With or Without Parental Involvement in Treating Anxious Children
Condition: Anxiety Disorders
MeSH terms: Anxiety Disorders
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study will evaluate the effectiveness of school-based cognitive behavioral therapy with
      or without parental involvement in treating anxious children.
    

Detailed description: 
      Anxiety disorders are among the most common disorders in children. Although anxiety is a
      normal part of growing up, the worrying experienced by children with anxiety disorders can
      persist to the point that day-to-day functioning becomes difficult. Physical symptoms of
      anxiety disorders include a constant sense of worry or stress, headache, nausea, sweating,
      shaking, and inability to concentrate. Early identification of anxiety disorders is important
      to prevent progression of the disorder into a chronic issue. Cognitive behavioral therapy
      (CBT), which focuses on behavioral and thinking modifications, has been shown to be the most
      effective treatment for anxiety disorders. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of
      school-based CBT with or without parental involvement in treating anxious children who meet
      DSM-IV criteria or have features of separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety
      disorder, and social phobia.

      Participants in this single blind study will be randomly assigned by school to one of three
      treatment groups: CBT for children only, CBT for children plus parent training, and
      no-treatment control. Each child and parent participant will first undergo an interview,
      lasting between 1 and 1.5 hours, about the child's symptoms. Additionally, parents will
      complete rating scales about their children's symptoms and their own symptoms. The
      participants receiving CBT will then attend 9 weekly group sessions held in the school
      buildings after school. In the parental involvement group, parents will attend 9 weekly group
      parent-training sessions held at the same time as the children's CBT group sessions. During
      the children's CBT sessions, participants will learn techniques to identify feelings of
      worry, relax, modify negative thoughts, break down difficult situations into smaller
      achievable steps, reward themselves for trying hard, and maintain treatment gains. For the
      parent training group, early sessions will focus on normalizing anxiety during childhood,
      learning about anxiety, and identifying when their children are feeling anxious. The middle
      sessions will teach parents the same anxiety management skills being taught to their children
      and ways to help their children to apply the steps at home. The latter sessions will instruct
      parents on ways to encourage their children's behaviors in anxiety-provoking situations.
      After completing the 9-week program, participants will attend 2 follow-up booster sessions at
      Months 1 and 3 post-treatment. Follow-up assessments will occur at Months 3 and 6 and at
      Years 1, 2, 3, and 4 post-treatment. The assessments will include repeat interviews and
      rating scales. At the end of the 6-month follow-up assessment, participants in the
      no-treatment control group will have the opportunity to participate in the CBT group
      treatments.
    

Intervention name(s): Group CBT for children; Group CBT for children plus parent training
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): CBT for children consists of 9 weekly group CBT sessions. All sessions occur in the school building during after-school hours.; CBT involving children and parents consists of 9 weekly group CBT sessions for the children and 9 weekly concurrent group parent training sessions.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Anxiety; Children; Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy; School-Based Interventions