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Effects of a parent training programme for the treatment of young children with separation anxiety disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

Sandra Mayer-Brien ,
Lyse Turgeon  and
Marc J. Lanovaz
Sandra Mayer-Brien
Affiliation:
Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Case postale 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal (Québec), Canada, H3C 3J7
Lyse Turgeon*
Affiliation:
École de psychoéducation, Université de Montréal, Case postale 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal (Québec), Canada, H3C 3J7
Marc J. Lanovaz
Affiliation:
École de psychoéducation, Université de Montréal, Case postale 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal (Québec), Canada, H3C 3J7
*
*Author for correspondence: Lyse Turgeon, École de psychoéducation, Université de Montréal, Case postale 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal (Québec)CANADAH3C 3J7 (E-mail: lyse.turgeon@umontreal.ca).
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Abstract

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been shown to be an effective treatment for anxiety disorders in children. However, the majority of studies conducted to date have included heterogeneous samples of children combining social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and separation anxiety disorder (SAD) together. Few studies have examined the efficacy of CBT to specifically treat SAD. Moreover, research on the impact of CBT for SAD in children younger than 7 years old has been very limited. To address these issues, we examined the effects of a CBT parent training programme with six children with SAD aged between 4 and 7 years using a non-concurrent multiple baseline design. Parents completed semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and daily diaries to assess their child's anxiety symptoms, parental practices and parental stress. Results indicated that five of six children no longer met the criteria for SAD diagnosis after treatment and at 3-month follow-up. Moreover, the daily diaries showed that four of six children presented a systematic favourable change of the total weekly frequency of SAD symptoms. Finally, four mothers reported a decrease in overprotection, but we observed no changes in parental stress.

Keywords

anxiety disordersbehavioural family interventionCBTsingle case experimental designchildhood anxiety
Type
Original Research Report
Information
the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist , Volume 10 , 2017 , e12
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2017 

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References

Recommended follow-up reading

Eisen, AR, Sussman, JM, Schmidt, T, Mason, L, Hausler, LA, Hashim, R (2011). Separation anxiety disorder. In Handbook of Child and Adolescent Anxiety disorders (ed. McKay, D. and Storch, E. A.), pp. 245–259. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-7784-7_17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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