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Published on: July 10, 2017
School-based treatment for anxious african-american adolescents: a controlled pilot study
Golda S Ginsburg1, Kelly L Drake
1Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287-3325, USA. gginsbu@jhmi.edu
Objective:
To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a school-based group cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for anxiety disorders with African-American adolescents.
Method:
Twelve adolescents (mean age = 15.6 years) with anxiety disorders were randomly assigned to CBT (n = 6) or a group attention-support control condition (AS-Control; n = 6). Both groups met for 10 sessions in the same high school. Key treatment ingredients in CBT involved exposure, relaxation, social skills, and cognitive restructuring. Key ingredients in AS-Control involved therapist and peer support. At pre- and posttreatment, diagnostic interviews were conducted, and adolescents completed self-report measures of anxiety.
Results:
At posttreatment and among those who attended more than one treatment session, 3/4 adolescents in CBT no longer met diagnostic criteria for their primary anxiety disorder, compared with 1/5 in AS-Control. Clinician ratings of impairment and self-report levels of overall anxiety were significantly lower at posttreatment in CBT compared with AS-Control. Teenagers in both groups reported lower levels of social anxiety from pre- to posttreatment.
Conclusions:
Findings support the feasibility of implementing a manual-based CBT in an urban school setting. Responder rates among African-American adolescents were similar to those found in studies with white youths.
