Community Violence and Youth: Preventing Anxiety Disorders
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Anxiety Disorders
- Sponsor
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Enrollment
- 200
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- 9 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
This study will determine the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral group therapy program in preventing anxiety disorders in at-risk children exposed to community violence.
Detailed Description
Community violence is a major public health problem in low-income, urban communities. The mental health impact of living in a violent community is significant, particularly for children. Community violence exposure is associated with various symptoms of anxiety. Unfortunately, little research on the prevention of community-related anxiety in youth has been conducted. This study involves a school-based prevention and cognitive behavioral therapy program that will involve predominantly African American children who live in urban areas and are at risk for developing anxiety disorders. Children in this study will be randomly assigned to either an anxiety prevention and early intervention group or a nonintervention group for approximately 3 months. Child, parent, and teacher assessments of anxiety symptoms will be made at the end of the study and at a 6-month follow-up visit.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Mild exposure to community violence
- •Mild to moderate anxiety symptoms or disorders
- •Attending public elementary school in an urban area
- •In 3rd to 5th grades
Exclusion Criteria
- •Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV disruptive behavior disorder
- •Too many or too few anxiety symptoms
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale
Time Frame: Past month
Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS; Reynolds \& Richmond, 1997), a self-report measure of the level and nature of anxiety in children and adolescents. It is a 37-item questionnaire in which students agree or disagree to statements pertaining to how some people think or feel about themselves, assessing different ways anxiety is manifested. A higher score indicates more anxiety and distress. The RCMAS has good internal consistency (alpha = 0.83) and test-retest reliability (r = 0.68). In the FRIENDS study, Total RCMAS reliability was alpha = 0.83 at baseline and alpha = 0.84 at post-assessment.
Secondary Outcomes
- Multicultural Events Schedule for Adolescents(Past year)
- Children's Report of Exposure to Violence(Past year and Lifetime)
- Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Screener(Past year)