THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BOOSTER SESSIONS IN CBT TREATMENT FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MOOD AND ANXIETY DISORDERS

Background To investigate the effects of booster sessions in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for children and adolescents with mood or anxiety disorders, whereas controlling for youth demographics (e.g., gender, age), primary diagnosis, and intervention characteristics (e.g., treatment modality, number of sessions). Methods Electronic databases were searched for CBT interventions for youth with mood and anxiety disorders. Fifty‐three (k = 53) studies investigating 1,937 youth met criteria for inclusion. Booster sessions were examined using two case‐controlled effect sizes: pre–post and pre–follow‐up (6 months) effect sizes and employing weighted least squares (WLSs) regressions. Results Meta‐analyses found pre–post studies with booster sessions had a larger effect size r = .58 (k = 15; 95% CI = 0.52–0.65; P