Group Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Phobic/Anxious Children (GCBT)

Investigators: Wendi Silverman, PhD

GCBT is a child-focused treatment intervention with parental involvement, for children with overanxious disorder, social phobia, and avoidant disorder. The key therapeutic procedure in this intervention is exposure to anxious-phobic objects or events, with contingency management and self-control training as additional therapeutic strategies. In the group format, these strategies are generally sequenced between education and application with the parent receiving training on a specific strategy and applying it to the child, then the child receiving training and applying the strategy him or herself. A randomized clinical trial conducted in 1999 evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of this program versus a wait-list control condition. The study found that 64% of the children in GCBT were recovered at posttreatment (i.e., no longer met primary diagnoses) compared with 13% of the children in the control condition. In addition, 82% of the participants showed clinically significant improvement at posttreatment compared with only 9% in the control condition. An improvement was also observed for ratings of disorder severity and for child- and parent-completed questionnaire measures. A consistent trend for treatment gains was found at the 3-month and 6-month follow-ups. Additionally, participants who were not recovered continued to show improvement into the 12-month follow-ups. The pattern for all of the child- and parent-completed measures similarly indicated a continued reduction in degree and severity of anxious symptoms from posttreatment to the 3-month follow-up, with improvements maintained at 6 and 12 months. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Helping Your Anxious Child: Bibliotherapy for Children with Anxiety Disorders Using Written Materials for Parents

Investigators: Ronald M. Rapee, PhD, Heidi J. Lyneham, PhD, Maree J. Abbott, PhD

Helping Your Anxious Child (HYAC) is a bibliotherapy outreach program based on a group cognitive-behavioral treatment program, the Cool Kids Child and Adolescent Anxiety Management Program. HYAC uses a parent-as-therapist model to assist children between 6 and 12 years of age in learning to manage their anxiety; including phobias, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic attacks. HYAC materials (book for parent and workbook for child) contain a structured course of readings and activities to help parents better understand child anxiety and teach their child to manage his or her anxiety. Children’s activities and practice tasks cover skills such as cognitive restructuring, gradual exposure, problem solving, social skills, assertiveness, and dealing with teasing. The program also covers more effective parenting strategies. Over 10-12 sessions, the parent and child work on the program in tandem over a 3 to 4 month period (some families require more time to master the skills). It is recommended that therapists monitor and assist with implementation of the program via telephone, email, or personal consultation. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Impact Evaluation of Teen Outreach, 1984-1989

Investigators: Association of Jr. Leagues International

Teen Outreach began in 1978 as a collaborative effort between the Danforth Foundation and the St. Louis Public Schools. Its original goal was to prevent early pregnancy and to keep teens in school. In 1981, the Junior League of St. Louis assumed a major role in promoting and funding the Teen Outreach program. The Stewart Mott Foundation funded a 3-year national replication in 1983; and by 1987, a second 3-year national replication effort began under the direction of the Association of Junior Leagues International, in cooperation with the American Association of School Administrators. The number of Teen Outreach sites has increased from 9 in the 1984-85 school year to 60 in 1988-89 throughout the U.S. and Canada. The program uses a combination of small group discussion strategies and provides volunteer service in the community for its participants. Although the curriculum and volunteer service are the core components of the program and are shared by all sites, variations within these two components exist. Emphasis in curriculum topics differ between sites; some sites offer Teen Outreach as an after school activity while others offer it during school hours; some sites offer school credit for participation while others do not; and the number of classroom hours or volunteer hours are not necessarily the same between sites. The minimum standards at Teen Outreach sites are that students should meet for 1 hour per week for a year and that each student should perform a minimum of 1 hour per week of volunteer work.

Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP): An Early Intervention Program for Low Birth Weight Premature Infants

Investigators: Craig T. Ramey, PhD, Donna M. Bryant, PhD, Joseph Sparling, PhD & Barbara H. Wasik, PhD

The Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP) was developed to enhance the cognitive, behavioral, and health status of low birth weight (LBW), premature infants. Between birth of a premature child and the age of three, program families received: 1) pediatric follow-up, 2) home visits, 3) parent support groups, and 4) a systematic educational program provided in specialized child developmental centers. The purpose of this early intervention program is to prevent later developmental problems. As such the child is the primary intervention target, although a parent (or other primary caregiver) is an essential participant in various program components. The IHDP curriculum is both center and home-based and includes activities to foster child functioning and enhance primary care giver child-rearing skills. At the end of the program, an experimental evaluation showed that IHDP had positively impacted cognitive and motor skills in participating children, particularly those from the most at-risk families and those who had been born at the "heavier" side of the low birth weight range (2001 to 2500 grams). Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Infant Stimulation and Physical Therapy: An Early Intervention Program for Children with Spastic Diplegia

Investigators: Frederick B. Palmer, MD, Bruce K. Shapiro, MD, & Marilee C. Allen, MD

The Infant Stimulation and Physical Therapy program was developed to address both cognitive and motor developmental areas for children with mild to severe spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy. This program is an early intervention program that lasts a full year and incorporates both an infant stimulation curriculum for the first six months, followed by neurodevelopmental physical therapy for the remaining six months. The Infant Stimulation and Physical Therapy program is both center and home-based. Parents (or primary caregivers) meet bi-weekly for one-hour sessions at a clinic for twelve months where they receive training in the daily home implementation of the program. During the first six months of the program, parents or primary caregivers meet with a child development therapist and receive infant stimulation training structured around checklists and specific behavioral objectives. During the second six months of the program, parents or primary caregivers meet with a physical therapist and receive physical therapy training that are also structured around checklists and specific behavioral objectives. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Intergenerational Panel Study of Parents and Children (A Detroit Area Study), 1962-1993

Investigators: Thorton, Freedman, Axinn

The purpose and goals of the study have evolved over the life of the project. The original study was launched in 1962 as a prospective study of childbearing. The original interviews collected a wide range of information useful for predicting subsequent childbearing decisions, while the follow-up data collections through 1966 measured subsequent fertility experience. In 1977, the purposes of the study were expanded to investigate employment, divorce, and changing family attitudes while at the same time retaining the earlier emphasis on childbearing decisions. In 1980, the study shifted its emphasis to include the children in the family and how they were influenced by the homes in which they were reared. The project became interested in the ways in which the parental family influenced the attitudes, values, experiences, and plans of the children. Of particular interest were the children's attitudes and experiences in the domains of marriage, childbearing, school, work, living arrangements, and family relationships. The 1980 wave of interviews with the children was also designed to be the first wave of a prospective study of the determinants of variations in the ways children made the transition to adulthood. The 1985 survey used a life history calendar (LHC) to obtain from the young adults retrospective data about their monthly living arrangements, cohabitation, marriage, childbearing, schooling, and work. In 1993, the data were extended to cover the experiences of the children and their families as the children matured into their early thirties. A life history calendar was again used.

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), 1996

Investigators: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

The 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) is a nationally representative panel survey of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population. The survey was designed to provide nationally representative estimates of health care use, expenditures, sources of payments, and insurance coverage for this population. Begun in 1996, MEPS is an ongoing survey, administered to a new panel each year. MEPS comprises four component surveys: the Household Component, the Medical Provider Component, the Insurance Component, and the Nursing Home Component. The Household Component is the core survey and the 1996 Household Component yields comprehensive data that provide national estimates of the level and distribution of health care use and expenditures for calendar year 1996. The Household Component survey collects detailed data on demographic characteristics, health conditions, health status, use of medical care services, charges and payments, access to care, satisfaction with care, health insurance coverage, income, and employment. MEPS is valuable in its ability to link medical expenditures and health insurance data to survey respondents' demographic, employment, economic, health status, utilization of health services, and other characteristics.

National Child Care Study 1990: Low-Income Substudy

Investigators: Sandra L. Hofferth, April Brayfield, Sharon Deich, Pamela Holcomb, and Frederic Glantz

The National Child Care Survey (1990): Low-Income Substudy is a nationally representative survey of 972 households with total annual incomes below $15,000 and one or more children under age 13. The survey was conducted in February-July of 1990 and focused on what kinds of child care arrangements respondents used, how those arrangements were chosen, and how they were paid for. The survey included a schedule of when the respondent and his or her spouse or partner was at work and a schedule of when each child was at each child care arrangement to provide a detailed picture of the correspondence between child care arrangements and work. Extensive data on employment history were gathered, including the relationship between work and child care in the past. Basic demographic information such as income, education, and ethnic group is also included. There are 1,419 variables in all. The questionnaire was administered over the telephone with the interviewer using a CATI (Computer Aided Telephone Interview) system. The Low-Income Substudy was designed to supplement the number of low-income households included in a larger "main" child care study (archived separately as American family Data Archive #13-14). A total of 430 parent interviews were completed with eligible low-income households as part of the low-income substudy, resulting in an interviewer completion rate among eligible households of 78%. Combining these 430 interviews with the 672 low-income interviews from the main study yields a total of 1,102 low-income parent interviews. Of these, only 974 actually had family incomes under $15,000 and are included in The National Child Care Survey (1990): Low-Income Substudy dataset.

National Child Care Survey 1990: Parent Study

Investigators: Sandra L. Hofferth, April Brayfield, Sharon Deich, Pamela Holcomb, and Frederic Glantz

The National Child Care Survey is a nationally representative survey of 4,392 households with one or more children under age 13 conducted in late 1989 and early 1990. It focused on what kinds of child care arrangements respondents used, how those arrangements were chosen, and how they were paid for. The survey included a schedule of when the respondent and his or her spouse or partner was at work and a schedule of when each child was at each child care arrangement to provide a detailed picture of the correspondence between child care arrangements and work. Extensive data on employment history were gathered, including the relationship between work and child care in the past. Basic demographic information such as income, education, and ethnic group is also included. The questionnaire was administered over the telephone with the interviewer using a CATI (Computer Aided Telephone Interview) system. Interviewers successfully screened 82.6% of the households contacted, and completed interviews at 69.4% of the eligible households, making the overall response rate 57.4% (69.4% x 82.6%).

National Commission on Children: 1990 Survey of Parents and Children

Investigators: Kristin A. Moore

Demographic, social and economic shifts in U.S. society over the past two decades have been accompanied by profound changes in family structure and the economic security of families raising children. These changes include a growth in single parent families, a decline in after-tax real income, and an increase in the number of children living in poverty. This survey aims to gather direct, up-to-date, and nationally representative data on the current state of family life, the quality of the relationship between parents and their children and their interactions with the major institutions affecting the family -- schools, the workplace, neighborhoods, and religious and civic organizations. Information on family demographic and socioeconomic background was also obtained. Issues addressed in this survey included: What factors support a positive and stable parent-child relationship? What is the role of educational, religious, social and cultural experiences in the lives of children? To what degree do parents involve themselves in their children's educational and religious experiences? To what degree do children talk with their parents about their life experiences such as dating, sex, drug and alcohol use, and their moral or religious concerns? To what degree do parents and children worry about and plan for the child's future education and employment?