Sensitivity for treatment effects of the screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) is a rela tively new self-report questionnaire that measures DSM-defined anxiety diso rders symptoms in children. The present study examined the treatment sensit ivity of the SCARED. Eleven anxiety-disordered children aged 10 to 13 years received cognitive-behavioral treatment, an intervention that is generally known to be effective. Children completed the SCARED on three occasions: ( 1) 3 months before treatment (i.e., baseline), (2) at pretreatment, and (3) at posttreatment. Before and after treatment, scores on traditional childh ood anxiety measures (i.e., State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, Rev ised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Fear Survey Schedule for Childr en) were also obtained. Results showed that children's SCARED scores remain ed relatively stable from baseline to pretreatment. However, from pre- to p osttreatment significant decreases were evident for the SCARED and for all traditional measures. These results suggest that the SCARED reliably taps t reatment effects and, thus, provide further support for its utility as a se lf-report index of childhood anxiety in clinical and research settings.