Family and Peer Involvement in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders in Children

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study will compare the effectiveness of family- and peer-oriented therapy in treating children with anxiety disorders and will also test for therapy specificity effects and potential mediators of outcome.

Detailed Description
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Data suggest that individual Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is effective in reducing anxiety disorders in children. The incorporation of parents and peers in a CBT treatment program also has been found to be effective in reducing anxiety symptoms, because a child's environment (i.e., parents, peers) affect the development, course, and outcome of childhood anxiety and functional status. Children and their parents will be randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: Family/Parents CBT (FCBT) or Peer/Group CBT (GCBT) for 14 to 16 weekly sessions. Parent-child relationships are the focus of FCBT. Parents will be trained to manage their children's anxiety and avoidant behaviors by increasing acceptance and warmth toward their children. Children in the GCBT group will be trained to be more helpful and positive toward other children through role-playing activities. Interviews, questionnaires, and behavior observation tasks will be used to assess participants. All participants will be assessed at pretreatment, post-treatment, and at yearly follow-up visits. The first set of hypotheses that will be tested is that FCBT will produce significantly greater specific effects on parenting skills and parent-child relationships than on child social skills and peer-child relationships. GCBT, on the other hand, will produce significantly greater specific effects on child social skills and peer-child relationships than on parenting skills and parent-child relationships. The second set of hypotheses will test whether or not it is the changes that are produced on these variables that mediate treatment response. Thus, the second set of hypotheses that will be tested is that parenting skills, parent-child relationships, child social skills and/or peer-child relationships will be significant mediators of treatment response, i.e., anxiety reduction

Official Title
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Therapy Specificity and Mediation in Family and Group CBT

Conditions
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Anxiety Disorders

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Peer/Group CBT
* Behavioral: Family/Parents CBT


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion criteria: DSM-IV criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Social Phobia (SP), or Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD) Mean score >= 4 on the Clinician's Rating Scale of Severity Discontinuation of all other psychosocial treatment upon consultation with clinic staff and the service provider Exclusion Criteria: DSM-IV criteria for a disorder other than GAD, SP, and SAD Diagnosis of any one of the following: pervasive developmental disorders, mental retardation, selective mutism, organic mental disorders, or schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders At risk for harm to self or others

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 8 Years
Maximum Age: 14 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: 1<br>Family/Parents CBT (FCBT) for 14 to 16 weekly sessions | Behavioral: Family/Parents CBT<br>* Parents will be trained to manage their children's anxiety and avoidant behaviors by increasing acceptance and warmth toward their children.<br>|
| Active Comparator: 2<br>Peer/Group CBT (GCBT) for 14 to 16 weekly sessions | Behavioral: Peer/Group CBT<br>* Children will be trained to be more helpful and positive toward other children through role-playing activities.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ADIS C/P Interference Rating Scales (Silverman & Albano, 1996) |  | pre, post, and followup | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale - Revised (RCMAS; Reynolds & Richmond, 1978) and Internalizing subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991) |  | pre, post, followup |