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Abstract
Background
Cognitive‐behavioural therapy (CBT) is an efficacious treatment for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents, yet not all young people improve. Understanding predictors of treatment response can inform treatment improvements in order to enhance outcomes.
Aim
The purpose of this study was to compare treatment outcomes following group‐based CBT for children with different anxiety disorders (social phobia (SocP), separation anxiety disorder (SAD), generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), specific phobia (SP)) to determine whether differential outcomes from group‐based CBT are related to type of diagnosis.
Method
Participants were 205 clinically anxious children between 4 and 12 years of age. Treatment outcomes were assessed using clinician‐rated diagnostic interviews, parent‐report, and child‐report symptom measures. Ninety‐seven children completed a long‐term follow‐up assessment 6 or 12 months after treatment.
Results
Children with a principal diagnosis of SocP and GAD had a poorer post‐treatment outcome compared to children with a principal diagnosis of SP and SAD. Poorer outcomes persisted in children with a principal diagnosis of SocP by the follow‐up assessment compared to children with the other anxiety disorders.
Conclusions
These findings are consistent with recent studies that have found poorer outcomes from CBT for youth and adults with SocP, and emphasise the need for further research into treatments that target specific factors that could improve outcomes.
Abstract
Funding: None.
Conflict of interest: Waters and Groth are the authors of the Take Action Program which was published as a practitioner guidebook in 2016. All data reported in this paper were collected between 2006 and 2012 prior to publication.
Funding: None.
Conflict of interest: Waters and Groth are the authors of the Take Action Program which was published as a practitioner guidebook in 2016. All data reported in this paper were collected between 2006 and 2012 prior to publication.
Notes
Funding: None.
Conflict of interest: Waters and Groth are the authors of the Take Action Program which was published as a practitioner guidebook in 2016. All data reported in this paper were collected between 2006 and 2012 prior to publication.
1. Twenty‐six children reported in Waters et al. (Citation2015) completed within‐session exposure tasks during the last five sessions of treatment. There were no significant differences on outcome measures between these children and the remainder of the sample.