Treating a heterogeneous set of anxiety disorders in youths with group cognitive behavioral therapy: A partially nonconcurrent multiple-baseline evaluation

This study investigated the efficacy of Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (GCBT) in the treatment of a heterogeneous set of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents using a partially nonconcurrent multiple-baseline across groups design with 12 clinically referred youth between 6 and 16 years of age who met DSM-IV criteria for an anxiety disorder. Targeted diagnoses included specific phobia, separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, with 3 of the children also presenting with school refusal behavior. Duration of baseline for each of the 3 groups varied and ran for 1, 2, or 3 weeks. Dependent measures included diagnostic status, daily child and parent ratings of child anxiety severity, and child- and parent-completed questionnaires. Results indicated that GCBT was generally efficacious in reducing anxious symptoms in youth treated in diagnostically heterogeneous groups, and that gains were generally maintained at 6 and 12 month follow-ups. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications for the efficient treatment of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders.