17-10-2020 | Original Article | Uitgave 6/2021
The Feasibility of a Parent Group Treatment for Youth with Anxiety Disorders and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Tijdschrift:
- Child Psychiatry & Human Development > Uitgave 6/2021
Belangrijke opmerkingen
Idit Dekel and Shirel Dorman-Ilan have contributed as first authors.
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Abstract
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for children and adolescents with anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Yet CBT is insufficiently effective in approximately half of cases in clinical trials and in a substantial number of cases children refuse to participate in CBT sessions altogether. Parent training offers a promising alternative to direct child therapy. The present study examined the feasibility of a group implementation of SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions), a novel parent training approach aimed at reducing parent’s accommodation of children’s anxiety symptoms. Based on parent reports (N = 25), following treatment there was a significant decrease in parental accommodation, in family power struggles and in parental sense of helplessness, as well as a significant reduction in anxiety and OCD symptom severity. Results support the promise of group SPACE treatment and underscore the need for additional clinical trial research.