Abstract/Summary

Objectives: Brief Guided Parent-delivered CBT has been developed to meet the demand for non-intensive interventions for children with anxiety disorders, and initial trials have shown it to be effective for children with a range of anxiety disorders. The current study examined outcomes three to five years post-treatment. Design: A long-term follow-up cohort study Methods: Families who (i) received active treatment of guided parent-delivered CBT for childhood anxiety as part of an RCT, (ii) completed at least 50% of allocated treatment sessions, (iii) provided consent to be re-contacted, (iv) had not received further mental health interventions, and (v) were contactable were invited to take part. 57 families (29% of the original sample) , completed structured diagnostic interviews on average 50 months after treatment (39-61 months). Results: At long-term follow-up, 79% of the assessed children who had received the treatment no longer met criteria for their primary diagnosis, 63% did not meet criteria for any anxiety disorder, and 61% did not meet criteria for any DSM-IV disorder. Treatment gains were mostly maintained (60%), and some children went on to recover during the follow-up period without additional input from mental health services (19%). Few young people had relapsed since their last assessment (12%). Mean scores on standardised symptom questionnaires were within the normal range. Conclusions: Children who recovered from anxiety disorders following Brief Guided Parent delivered- CBT typically maintained good outcomes and few relapsed. These findings suggest that this is a viable first line, low intensity treatment approach. This study only included a small subsample of those in the original RCT (29%) and more information is required about those who dropped out of treatment and those that required further intervention immediately after treatment.