A pilot study of telephone cognitive-behavioural therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder in young people.
BACKGROUND
Cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) is the recommended psychological treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in young people. Access to CBT may be limited by a number of factors, including lack of trained therapists, and geographic or financial factors preventing access to a specialized service. Telephone delivery of CBT represents one way of overcoming some of these accessibility issues. This pilot study describes outcomes for a telephone-based cognitive-behavioural treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in young people.


METHODS
Ten participants, aged 13 to 17 years, and their parents received up to 16 sessions of telephone CBT (TCBT). Measures of OCD symptoms were obtained using multiple informants and a repeated measures design. Assessments were conducted at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 6- and 12-month follow-up.


RESULTS
Improvements were found for OCD symptoms across all informants. Family satisfaction with treatment over the telephone was high.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that TCBT is a clinically effective, feasible and acceptable means of service delivery that offers the potential to make CBT a more accessible treatment for young people. TCBT requires further evaluation in randomized, controlled trials to compare effectiveness with face-to-face CBT, which currently represents the usual care model.
Turner
Cynthia
C
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. cynthia.turner@slam.nhs.uk
Heyman
Isobel
I
Futh
Annabel
A
Lovell
Karina
K
D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013689:Telephone; D005879:Tourette Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology