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.
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.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
200
School-based anxiety preventive intervention (cognitive-behavioral group therapy) originally designed for Australian children that was culturally and contextually modified for inner-city children exposed to community violence. Participants received the weekly intervention and rewards for participating in the assessments.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale
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.
Time frame: Past month
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Screener
Academic achievement was assessed using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Screener (WIAT-Screener; Psychological Corporation, 1992), which consists of three subtests of the comprehensive WIAT battery (i.e., Basic Reading, Mathematics Reasoning, Spelling). It assesses basic academic skills; permits the calculation of age- and grade-based standard scores; was standardized using a large representative sample; is widely used; and has demonstrated reliability and validity with little evidence of practice effects (Psychological Corporation, 1992).
Time frame: Past year
Multicultural Events Schedule for Adolescents
Adverse life events were assessed using the Multicultural Events Schedule for Adolescents (MESA; Gonzales, Gunnoe, Samaniego, \& Jackson, 1995), developed to assess major and minor life events specific to an urban multiethnic population (Gonzales et al., 1995). It was normed on African American, European American, and English- and Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans. The MESA includes 84 items in which a student responds yes or no to each life events over the past year. A Total life events score is based on the number of events endorsed, with a higher score indicating more adverse life events and hassles. The MESA has adequate concurrent validity and test-retest reliability (Gonzales et al., 1995). In the FRIENDS project, the MESA Total score alpha = .89 at baseline, and alpha = .95 at the post-assessment.
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Time frame: Past year
Children's Report of Exposure to Violence
Children's Report of Exposure to Violence (CREV; Cooley, Turner, \& Beidel, 1995). The CREV is a widely used self-report questionnaire developed to assess children's lifetime exposure to community violence. It has good two-week test-retest reliability (r = 0.75), internal consistency (overall alpha = .78), and construct validity (Cooley et al., 1995). Twenty-nine scored CREV items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 0-''no, never'' to 4-''everyday,'' to indicate the frequency of exposure to community violence via four modes (i.e., media, hearsay, witness, victimization). Types of violent situations include being chased or threatened, beaten up, robbed or mugged, shot, stabbed, or killed. Higher scores indicate more perceived exposure. A past-year version of the CREV was developed and administered at the post-assessment evaluation. Cronbach's alpha for the lifetime CREV Total score was .88 at baseline and .90 for the past-year version.
Time frame: Past year and Lifetime