Early intervention and prevention of anxiety disorders in children: Results at 2-year follow-up

The Queensland Early Intervention and Prevention of Anxiety Project evaluat ed a child- and family-focused group intervention for preventing anxiety pr oblems in children. This article reports on 12- and 24-month follow-up data to previously reported outcomes at posttreatment and at 6-month follow-up. A total of 1,786 7- to 14-year-olds were screened for anxiety problems usi ng teacher nominations and children's self-report. After diagnostic intervi ews, 128 children were selected and assigned to either a 10-week school-bas ed child- and parent-focused psychosocial intervention or a monitoring grou p. Both groups showed improvements immediately at postintervention and at 6 -month follow-up; the improvement was maintained in the intervention group only, reducing the rate of existing anxiety disorder and preventing the ons et of new anxiety disorders. At 12 months, the groups converged, but the su periority of the intervention group was evident again at 2-year follow-up. Severity of pretreatment diagnoses, gender, and parental anxiety predicted poor initial response to intervention, whereas pretreatment severity was th e only predictor of chronicity at 24 months. Overall, follow-up results sho w that a brief school-based intervention for children can produce durable r eductions in anxiety problems.