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Prevention of anxiety symptoms in primary school children: Preliminary results from a universal school‐based trial

2001; Wiley; Volume: 40; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1348/014466501163887

2044-8260

Paula M. Barrett, Cynthia Turner,

School Health and Nursing Education

Preliminary data are presented on the effectiveness of a universal school‐based intervention for the prevention of anxiety symptoms in primary school children. A sample of 489 children (aged 10‐12 years) were assigned to one of three intervention conditions: a psychologist‐led preventive intervention, a teacher‐led preventive intervention, or a usual care (standard curriculum) with monitoring condition. The intervention offered was the Friends for Children programme, a 12‐session cognitive‐behavioural intervention, originally based upon Kendall's (1994) Coping Cat programme. Participants in both intervention conditions reported fewer symptoms of anxiety at post‐intervention than participants in the usual care condition. These preliminary results suggest that universal programmes for childhood anxiety are promising intervention strategies that can be successfully delivered to a school‐based population and integrated into the classroom curriculum.