The treatment of child anxiety disorders via guided parent-delivered cognitive-behavioural therapy: a randomised controlled trial

Thirlwall, K., Cooper, P., Karalus, J., Voysey, M., Willetts, L. and Creswell, C. (2013) The treatment of child anxiety disorders via guided parent-delivered cognitive-behavioural therapy: a randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, 203 (6). pp. 436-444. ISSN 1472-1465 doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.113.126698

Abstract/Summary

Background Promising evidence has emerged of clinical gains using guided self-help cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for child anxiety and by involving parents in treatment; however, the efficacy of guided parent-delivered CBT has not been systematically evaluated in UK primary and secondary settings. Aims To evaluate the efficacy of low-intensity guided parent-delivered CBT treatments for children with anxiety disorders. Method A total of 194 children presenting with a current anxiety disorder, whose primary carer did not meet criteria for a current anxiety disorder, were randomly allocated to full guided parent-delivered CBT (four face-to-face and four telephone sessions) or brief guided parent-delivered CBT (two face-to-face and two telephone sessions), or a wait-list control group (trial registration: ISRCTN92977593). Presence and severity of child primary anxiety disorder (Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, child/parent versions), improvement in child presentation of anxiety (Clinical Global Impression-Improvement scale), and change in child anxiety symptoms (Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale, child/parent version and Child Anxiety Impact scale, parent version) were assessed at post-treatment and for those in the two active treatment groups, 6 months post-treatment. Results Full guided parent-delivered CBT produced superior diagnostic outcomes compared with wait-list at post-treatment, whereas brief guided parent-delivered CBT did not: at post-treatment, 25 (50%) of those in the full guided CBT group had recovered from their primary diagnosis, compared with 16 (25%) of those on the wait-list (relative risk (RR) 1.85, 95% CI 1.14-2.99); and in the brief guided CBT group, 18 participants (39%) had recovered from their primary diagnosis post-treatment (RR = 1.56, 95% CI 0.89-2.74). Level of therapist training and experience was unrelated to child outcome. Conclusions Full guided parent-delivered CBT is an effective and inexpensive first-line

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/32936
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Winnicott Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY)
Publisher	Royal College of Psychiatrists
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