Prevention of anxiety symptoms in primary school children: preliminary results from a universal school-based trial

Br J Clin Psychol. 2001 Nov;40(4):399-410. doi: 10.1348/014466501163887.

Abstract

Preliminary data are presented on the effectiveness of a universal school-based intervention for the prevention of anxiety symptoms in primary school children. A sample of 489 children (aged 10-12 years) were assigned to one of three intervention conditions: a psychologist-led preventive intervention, a teacher-led preventive intervention, or a usual care (standard curriculum) with monitoring condition. The intervention offered was the Friends for Children programme, a 12-session cognitive-behavioural intervention, originally based upon Kendall's (1994) Coping Cat programme. Participants in both intervention conditions reported fewer symptoms of anxiety at post-intervention than participants in the usual care condition. These preliminary results suggest that universal programmes for childhood anxiety are promising intervention strategies that can be successfully delivered to a school-based population and integrated into the classroom curriculum.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Multicenter Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Analysis of Variance
  • Anxiety / prevention & control
  • Anxiety Disorders / prevention & control*
  • Anxiety Disorders / psychology
  • Child
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy*
  • Curriculum
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Manifest Anxiety Scale
  • Risk Factors
  • Students / psychology*