Multi-Component Early Intervention for Socially Inhibited Preschool Children

Conditions

Anxiety, Behavioral Inhibition

Brief summary

This project is intended to provide a rigorous test of the Turtle Program, an early intervention program for behaviorally inhibited preschoolers. The proposed project will extend promising pilot study findings by: (a) evaluating the integrated intervention in a larger sample (n = 150) of 45-64 month children and their parents, which will allow for an examination of mediators and moderators of treatment effects; (b) comparing the Turtle Program to the best available treatment for preschool behavioral inhibition, the Cool Little Kids (CLK) parent psychoeducation group; (c) examining heart rate reactivity and regulation as both baseline moderators of treatment response and as outcome measures; (d) examining parent anxiety disorders as a moderator of treatment response; (e) including a mid-treatment assessment and extending follow-up to one year.

Nicholas J. Wagner, Nila Shakiba, Hong N.T. Bui, Danielle M. Novick, Kathy Sem et al. (8 authors)

International Journal of Behavioral Development2024-12-201 citations

10.1177/01650254241306118

Testing reciprocal associations between child anxiety and parenting across early interventions for inhibited preschoolers

Danielle R. Novick, Christian T. Meyer, Nicholas J. Wagner, Kenneth H. Rubin, Christina M. Danko et al. (9 authors)

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry2023-08-296 citations

10.1111/jcpp.13879

Examining the Relations Between Children's Vagal Flexibility Across Social Stressor Tasks and Parent- and Clinician-Rated Anxiety Using Baseline Data from an Early Intervention for Inhibited Preschoolers.

Wagner NJ, Shakiba N, Bui HNT, Sem K, Novick DR, Danko CM, Dougherty LR, Chronis-Tuscano A, Rubin KH.

2023-03-243 citations

10.1007/s10802-023-01050-3

Early intervention for inhibited young children: a randomized controlled trial comparing the Turtle Program and Cool Little Kids

Andrea Chronis‐Tuscano, Danielle R. Novick, Christina M. Danko, Kelly A. Smith, Nicholas J. Wagner et al. (9 authors)

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry2021-06-2931 citations

10.1111/jcpp.13475

Interventions

BEHAVIORALTurtle Program

BEHAVIORALCool Little Kids

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

45 Months to 64 Months

Healthy volunteers

No

Inclusion criteria

* child must be attending preschool; child must score within top 15% on parent-rated Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire

Exclusion criteria

* child has a diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder, selective mutism, or mental retardation; child scores above clinical cutoff on Social Communication Questionnaire; child is currently receiving treatment for anxiety; child does not have a custodial parent who has also consented to participate

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change in child anxiety disorder symptoms	pre-treatment, mid-treatment (week 4), post-treatment (week 8), and 1-year follow-up	Assessed with diagnostic interviews (Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule) with parents

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed