None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
One-third of youth presenting to GPs and paediatricians complain of physical/somatic problems (e.g., recurring headaches, stomach-aches) that have no physical cause. These complaints are termed functional somatic syndromes (FSS). Importantly, up to 80% of youth with FSS also experience emotional disorders. However, to date, FSS interventions have solely focused on pain management, whilst overlooking the co-occurring anxiety and depressive disturbances. This is problematic given these children are at high-risk for experiencing chronic psychopathology into adulthood. The aim of this RCT is to test the efficacy of the CoolKids and Adolescent Health (psychological therapy) program which is a newly developed program specifically tailored for distressed children (7-17 years) struggling to cope with somatic-health complaints. Given the CoolKids and Adolescent Health program is also designed to concurrently manage both somatic and anxiety/depression symptoms, it is hypothesized that this program is expected to: i) lead to significant reductions in somatic, anxiety and depressive symptoms and improvement in quality-of-life compared to a wait-list control group. ii) The effects will be retained at 6-months and 9-months follow-up.
Interventions
The Cool Kids and Adolescent Health program is an individual 10 session psychological treatment. The program is administered face to face or via Telephone or Skype. The program runs over 10 x 1 hour weekly sessions.
The program is based on a cognitive and behavioural therapy approach. Children and adolescents will be introduced to:
- Breathing exercises
- Behavioural therapy skills - including exposure/behavioural exercises
- Cognitive therapy and problem-solving skills.
The program is manualiz
The Cool Kids and Adolescent Health program is an individual 10 session psychological treatment. The program is administered face to face or via Telephone or Skype. The program runs over 10 x 1 hour weekly sessions. The program is based on a cognitive and behavioural therapy approach. Children and adolescents will be introduced to: - Breathing exercises - Behavioural therapy skills - including exposure/behavioural exercises - Cognitive therapy and problem-solving skills. The program is manualized and includes both a child/adolescent and parent workbooks, as parents will be involved in the treatment sessions The therapy sessions will be conducted by trained psychologists.
Sponsors
Macquarie University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
7 Years to 17 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
i) aged 7 to 17 years at referral; ii) General Practitioner (GP) or medical specialist (e.g., gastro-enterologist, neurologist, cardiologist etc) verification via documented referral report of recurrent somatic problems with no organic cause for a minimum duration of 3-months; iii) meeting clinical sub-threshold or full diagnostic criteria for at least one type of anxiety and/or depressive disorder [verified at screening assessment via DSM-ADIS-C/P diagnostic interview with minimum clinician severity rating score of 3 or > (as assessed by clinical psychologists/employed as personnel for this project)]; iv) children on medication (e.g., antiacids) or psychiatric medications for a min. of 3 months will be included, provided they remain on stable dosage throughout the study program period; v) able to read and write basic English; and vi) one of the parent/guardians is committed to attending therapy sessions.
Exclusion criteria
i) not receiving alternate psychological treatment at time of referral or during the course of the study; ii) current suicidal ideation; and iii) intellectually impaired.
Outcome results
None listed