title: Pretreatment attrition and childhood social phobia: Parental concerns about medication.
abstract: Pretreatment attrition, the systematic self-exclusion of potential participants during the recruitment phase of a study, poses a significant threat to the external validity of randomized clinical trials. Very little is known about the factors that contribute to pretreatment attrition, especially among families seeking treatment for a child. The current study assessed pretreatment attrition in a randomized clinical trial of behavior therapy, fluoxetine, and placebo for child and adolescent social phobia. Reluctance toward medication treatment accounted for 44.7% of study refusals and was disproportionately common among ethnic minority families. Parents were particularly worried about the potential for side effects or physical/psychological dependency upon the medication. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for external validity in future psychopharmacological clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Maryland Center for Anxiety Disorders, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. byoung7@du.edu
authors.forename: Brennan J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Deborah C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Beidel
authors.forename: Samuel M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Ammerman
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McGraw
authors.forename: Susannah C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Coaston
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D005473:Fluoxetine; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors