The Length of Child Anxiety Treatment in a Regional Health System

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• 作者：Stephen P. H. Whiteside ; Chelsea M. Ale…
• 关键词：Child ; Anxiety disorders ; Evidence ; based treatment ; Community care ; Health system data
• 刊名：Child Psychiatry and Human Development
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：December 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：47
• 期：6
• 页码：985-992
• 全文大小：372 KB
• 刊物类别：Behavioral Science
• 刊物主题：Psychology
  Child and School Psychology
  Psychiatry
  
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1573-3327
• 卷排序：47

文摘

Anxiety disorders are often undertreated due to unsuccessful dissemination of evidence-based treatments (EBTs). Lack of empirical data regarding the typical length of treatment in clinical settings may hamper the development of clinically relevant protocols. The current study examined billing records for 335 children ages 7–17 years to quantify the treatment received for newly diagnosed anxiety disorders within a regional health system. The vast majority of patients did not receive a sufficient number of appointments to complete the typical cognitive behavioral therapy protocol or reach the sessions introducing exposure. Although half of the sample received pharmacotherapy, the vast majority received fewer follow-up appointments than participants in pharmacotherapy research studies. Further, the type of treatment (i.e., number of sessions and medication) differed depending on utilization of specialty care. These results underscore the need to develop brief and flexible EBT protocols that can be standardized and implemented in community practice.