A Universal Prevention Trial of Anxiety Symptomology during Childhood: Results at 1-Year Follow-up

Abstract

In 2001 we evaluated a universal prevention trial of anxiety during childhood, and also examined the effects of the program on levels of depression. Participants were 594 children aged 10—13 years from seven schools in Brisbane, Australia, who were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group on a school-by-school basis. The intervention was based on the group CBT program FRIENDS (Barrett, Lowry-Webster & Holmes, 1999a, 1999b, 1999c). Results were examined universally (for all children) and for children who scored above the clinical cut-off for anxiety at pre-test. At 12-month follow-up, intervention gains were maintained, as measured by self-reports and diagnostic interviews. Eighty-five per cent of children in the intervention group who were scoring above the clinical cut-off for anxiety and depression were diagnosis free in the intervention condition, compared to only 31.2% of children in the control group. Implications of these findings are examined, alongside limitations and directions for future research.