title: The effect of parent involvement in the treatment of anxiety disorders in children: a meta-analysis.
abstract: Among clinicians, it is common practice to include parents in treatment, and it has been taken for granted that parents' involvement in their children's treatment is beneficial for therapy outcome, although research on this issue is far from clear. A meta-analysis was carried out in order to investigate whether parent involvement potentiates the outcome for children with anxiety disorders when treated with cognitive-behavior therapy. Sixteen studies, which directly compared parent-involved treatments with child-only treatments, were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed a small, nonsignificant effect size of - 0.10 in favor of the child-only treatments. There was no indication of publication bias in the analysis. Implications of the results are discussed.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical Neuroscience , Centre for Psychiatric Research and Education, Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulrika
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Thulin
authors.forename: Liv
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Svirsky
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Serlachius
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Lars-Göran
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Ost
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: childhood anxiety disorders; cognitive–behavior therapy; meta-analysis; parent involvement; treatment