Anxiety Among Children: Adaptation and Effectiveness of the Program Super Skills for Life in School Settings

Fatima Jinnah Women University126 enrolled

Overview

Super Skills for Life (SSL) is a transdiagnostic prevention program designed for children with anxiety and depressive symptoms based on cognitive-behavioral therapy. This study is a Cluster Randomization Trial(cRCT) to determine the of the effectiveness of the SSL program to reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms along with improving self-esteem, social skills and overall quality of life in a sample of 126, 5th grade children recruited from 6 schools from Pakistan. Schools were the unit of randomization and were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions; intervention group (SSL) and waiting list control (WLC) group. Assessments were conducted before and after the 8 sessions of intervention and follow-up assessment after 6 months.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Enrollment

126

Conditions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 9 YearsMax age: 13 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Inclusion Criteria of the study was a selection of children of Grade 5th presented with anxiety symptoms according to their scores equal to or greater than 25 on a total scale score of The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) with age 9 and 13 years, who can speak and understand Urdu easily. Exclusion Criteria: * Children who have any serious physical/medical diseases, diagnosed mental health issues, developmental delays, or learning difficulties, and are under any psychological treatment were excluded. Furthermore, children who had undergone any surgery or experienced serious traumatic events in the past 6 months and who did not get permission from their parents with written informed consent from parents/ not willing to were also excluded.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED)

Psychometric tool for Anxiety Measurement

Time frame: Immediately after Intervention and Followup after 6 months

The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC)

Psychometric Tool for the measurement of Depression

Time frame: Immediately post intervention and after 6 months

Secondary Outcomes

The Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

Tool for the measurement of overall emotional and behavioural problems

Time frame: Immediately post intervention and after 6 months

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES)

Scale for assessing Self-Esteem

Time frame: Immediately after intervention and after 6 months

Social Skills Questionnaire (SSQ)

tool for assessing Social Skills

Time frame: immediately after intervention and after 6 months

Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL)

tool for assessing Pediatric Quality of Life