None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorder in children with 1 in 5 experiencing an anxiety disorder before adulthood. The Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie University has developed a program, Cool Kids, which is effective in treating these disorders. Improving access to care is an essential next-step in the dissemination of effective treatments for anxiety disorders – particularly in Australia, given the vast regional and remote areas. We will conduct a randomized clinical trial comparing treatment to waitlist conditions to evaluate the efficacy of the Cool Kids program delivered online for the treatment of anxiety disorders in young people. The project hypotheses are as follows: 1) the Cool Kids Online program will produce significantly better outcomes than waitlist control (no treatment) on anxiety diagnoses, symptoms and life interference, 2) treatment gains following the Cool Kids Online program will be maintained over a six month follow-up period, and 3) families completing the Cool Kids Online program will report high levels of treatment satisfaction.
Interventions
Condition 1 (Cool Kids Online): 8 interactive online lessons over 10 weeks with weekly brief therapist phone contact and automated emails.
Condition 2 (Waitlist Control): 10 week wait (no contact).
Cool Kids Online is a skills based, cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) program delivered over the internet. The CBT lessons include psychoeducation about anxiety and skills to manage anxiety. Skills focus on thinking styles and behavioural responses to anxiety.
Lessons are completed by both pare
Condition 1 (Cool Kids Online): 8 interactive online lessons over 10 weeks with weekly brief therapist phone contact and automated emails. Condition 2 (Waitlist Control): 10 week wait (no contact). Cool Kids Online is a skills based, cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) program delivered over the internet. The CBT lessons include psychoeducation about anxiety and skills to manage anxiety. Skills focus on thinking styles and behavioural responses to anxiety. Lessons are completed by both parent (coach) and child together. In addition, each lesson has extra information especially for parents. This extra information teaches parents helpful strategies to respond to anxiety and assist their child to implement the Cool Kids online skills. Cool Kids Online material is presented using animated video and audio material, case examples and practice activities/information handouts. Lessons focus on specific skills that build sequentially from the previous lessons. Each lesson takes approximately 60 minutes (45 for parent and child together, 15 minutes for parents alone). Parents will receive brief (approx. 15 min) phone-calls from a therapist after completing each lesson and will receive brief, system-generated, emails focused on consolidating learning. Participants in the waitlist condition will not receive contact or treatment for 10 weeks. They will subsequently be offered the Cool Kids Online program as described above.
Sponsors
Lauren McLellan
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 12 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Primary Anxiety Diagnosis
Exclusion criteria
- Accessing other psychological treatment - Non-stable medication treatment - Significant learning delays or developmental disorders - Autism or a related disorder - Significant unmanaged behavioural disorder - Unmanaged psychotic symptoms - Is considered at risk due to abuse, neglect, suicidality/self-harm, or extended school refusal. - Parents are not proficient reading English
Outcome results
None listed