Methodological issues in treatment research for anxiety disorders in youth.
This article identifies and addresses three methodological domains relevant to the treatment of anxiety disorders in youth: (a) procedural matters, (b) the assessment of anxious distress, and (c) the analysis of treatment-produced change. Procedural topics include the need to manualize treatment, have diversity among participants and comparability of the duration of treatment and control conditions, and control for medication status. Multiple-method measurement issues include child and parent reports, observations, and structured interviewing. Our examination of change issues considers comorbidity, analyzing the intent-to-treat sample, treatment "spillover," and clinical as well as statistical significance. Problems are identified and potential ameliorative strategies are offered.
Kendall
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PC
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, USA.
Flannery-Schroeder
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EC
D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000145:classification; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design; D016896:Treatment Outcome