Early Interventions for Anxious Children

University Of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This R21 application is in response to Program Announcement #PA-99-134 Exploratory/Development Grants for Mental Health Intervention Research. This project focuses on early identification of anxious children and pilot testing of school-based group interventions for anxious youth. Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders in children. These disorders are strongly associated with risk for later developing mood disorders and other psychiatric disorders, academic failure, substance abuse problems, and other significant health problems. Up to 10-15% of the general youth population has an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are associated with functional impairment and substantial morbidity. Longitudinal studies have demonstrated that untreated anxiety disorders in children may continue for years. For all these reasons, early identification and intervention are critical for preventing anxiety disorders and returning anxious children to the normal developmental trajectory. This R21 will employ a multiple gating procedure to identify children (ages 7-11) with features or diagnoses of separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or social phobia. Schools will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for children, (2) group CBT for children plus parent training, or (3) treatment as usual. Treatment as usual will consist of whatever the school would normally recommend for a child identified as anxious. Active treatments will utilize the FRIENDS Manual and will be provided at school. The FRIENDS manual will be expanded to provide a more intensive parent training component (i.e., parental anxiety management, understanding the child's anxiety in the family context, contracting and contingency management). All children will be followed prospectively with assessments at 3 months and 6 months post-treatment. Outcome measures will evaluate symptom severity, level of functioning, remission of baseline anxiety disorders, and incidence of new anxiety disorders. Data from this study will guide a large-scale school-based investigation of group interventions for anxious youth.