Intervention Social Anxiety: Combining Parent-child Treatment

More Than the Sum of Its Parts: Investigating a Combined Parent-child Treatment for Children With Social Anxiety

The aim of this pilot project is to investigate a treatment program for children with social anxiety, in which children and their parents, parallel to each other, follow separate evidence-based interventions. The added value of this pilot project is that the investigators are examining how both programs interact when offered simultaneously.

After a diagnostic trajectory and a 2-week reflection period, children and their parents are invited to come into the lab for baseline 1. During baseline 1, children and their parents will be interviewed and they will fill in some questionnaires. They will then be randomly assigned to a 2-, 4-, or 6-week waiting period. During this waiting period they will fill in Experience Sampling Method (ESMs) daily, every other week. One week before the end of the waiting period, baseline 2 will take place. After the waiting period children and their parents will start their separate treatments in parallel. Children will get an individually tailored cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)-protocol for social anxiety and parents will get SPACE. In the treatment period, they will fill in ESMs daily. There is another assessment with interviews and questionnaires at mid-treatment (after 6 sessions) and post-treatment (after 12 sessions), as well as 1- and 2-months after treatment has ended. After the treatment period, the frequency of the ESMs will go back to daily every other week.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis social anxiety
• At least 1 parent is willing to participate

Exclusion Criteria:

• Currently under treatment for anxiety
• Other complaints that need attention first
• Not understanding instructions/treatment