NCT00164203

The Feelings Club: Evaluating a School-based Intervention for Children at Risk for Depression and Anxiety Disorders

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 150 (actual)
• Sponsor: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 7 Years – 13 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Anxiety and mood disorders are among the most prevalent mental health problems in childhood. They have severe long-term morbidity, and associated academic and social impairment. Building on the investigators' experience with outcome evaluation in clinically anxious or depressed children, they propose to evaluate within the school system a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention for children in grades 3 to 6 with elevated symptoms of anxiety or depression on standardized questionnaires. The participant's outcomes will be compared with those of similar children randomly assigned to an activity control group. Hypothesis 1a): Children in the intervention condition will show greater symptom reduction relative to children in the control condition (primary outcome: anxiety symptoms). Hypothesis 1b): Children in the intervention condition will show fewer symptoms during follow-up relative to children in the control condition. Hypothesis 2: Children with anxious or depressive symptoms treated in the school setting using CBT have a lower risk of developing internalizing disorders within 1 year of treatment than children in a control condition. Hypothesis 3: Self-esteem, anxiety and depression-related impairment, and academic functioning will improve more in intervention participants than in controls. Hypothesis 4: School characteristics, child age, and attitudes of participating personnel are predictive of treatment response.

Conditions

• Anxiety
• Depression

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Cognitive Behavioral Therapy	12-session, weekly, school-based protocol based on cognitive restructuring, tailored to children Grades 3 to 6; comparison with activity control condition of equal duration.
BEHAVIORAL	School-based CBT	12 sessions, weekly
BEHAVIORAL	activity control condition	weekly games \& activities x 12 weeks

Timeline

• Start date: 2005-04-01
• Primary completion: 2007-12-01
• Completion: 2011-08-01
• First posted: 2005-09-14
• Last updated: 2011-08-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada