None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Current psychological treatments for child anxiety are well-established and evaluated, yet up to half of children still have an anxiety disorder after treatment. According to guidelines by RANZCP, following unsuccessful treatment with a psychological program, children should be moved to a course of SSRI medication. While this sounds like a logical suggestion, it is currently not based on any scientific evaluation. The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate both the effectiveness of this approach and its implementation in the Australian community. Children aged 7-12 years who have current anxiety disorders will be treated with a scientifically tested psychological program in university services. Following this, children who still have a diagnosable anxiety disorder will be randomly allocated to either treatment as usual (continued practice of learned skills) or will receive a referral with detailed information recommending SSRI treatment to their current medical practitioner. Improvements in diagnoses, anxiety symptoms and life impairment will be assessed 15 weeks later, along with feasibility, acceptability and other implementation data such as how many medical practitioners agree to prescribe.
Interventions
A referral letter addressed to children's medical practitioner containing information about, and a recommendation for, the 2018 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) guidelines for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication as the follow-up treatment for children with anxiety disorders who do not respond to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This letter will be given to children's parent/guardian after completion of the CBT course once the treating cl
A referral letter addressed to children's medical practitioner containing information about, and a recommendation for, the 2018 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) guidelines for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication as the follow-up treatment for children with anxiety disorders who do not respond to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This letter will be given to children's parent/guardian after completion of the CBT course once the treating clinician has assessed the child and determined them to be a 'non-responder' to CBT. Parents/guardians will be informed to make and attend an appointment with their child's current treatment medical practitioner within the following 3 weeks to give the medical practitioner the referral letter. Adherence to the intervention, as well as issues concerning feasibility or acceptability (e.g., if parents were unable to get an appointment with their medical practitioner within the 3 week time allocation; if they did not want their child to be prescribed medication), will be measured through questionnaires that will be given to parents at the end of the testing phase, which will be 12 weeks after the referral letter has been delivered to treating medical practitioners.
Sponsors
Macquarie University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Primary purpose
Treatment
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
7 Years to 12 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Children with at least one anxiety disorder who attend a psychological program for the treatment of their anxiety disorder/s at the Macquarie University Centre for Emotional Health Clinic or the Griffith University Childhood Anxiety Disorders Clinic and who, after completion of the program, are assessed by a psychology clinician to still meet clinical criteria for an anxiety disorder. Parents/guardians of these children will be asked to provide consent on behalf of their child and to provide information on primary and secondary outcomes. Any parents/guardians of children who meet inclusion criteria will be included.
Exclusion criteria
Already taking SSRI medication
Outcome results
None listed