Effectiveness of a modified group cognitive behavioral therapy program for anxiety in children with ASD delivered in a community context.
Abbie Solish, Nora Klemencic, Anne Ritzema and 4 others
PMID 32404180WHAT IT FOUND
Community-delivered CBT for anxiety in children with autism worked as well as hospital-based care.
Parent-reported anxiety scores dropped significantly, and 90% of enrolled children finished the program. The study found no specific child characteristics predicted who improved.
Key findings
01Parent-reported anxiety scores showed significant improvement from pre- to post-treatment in the combined sample.
02Improvements in anxiety were similar between the hospital-based and community-based delivery sites.
03No individual child characteristics, such as age or IQ, significantly predicted treatment response.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
There was no control group, so it is unclear how much of the improvement was due to the therapy versus the passage of time or natural fluctuations in anxiety. Many participants were receiving concurrent treatments like medication or other behavioral programs, which were not tracked, so the specific effect of the CBT program alone cannot be isolated. Outcome data came only from parents and children involved in the treatment, with no independent clinician or teacher ratings, which may introduce bias. The study excluded children with significant disruptive behaviors, so the results may not apply to patients with severe behavioral challenges.
Declared interests
The study was supported by non-U.S. government funding. The program developers were involved in training and fidelity monitoring but did not fund the study or write the manuscript.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this proves CBT is superior to no treatment or other interventions. Because there was no control group and many children received other therapies at the same time, the study shows the program was effective in a real-world setting, but it does not prove the CBT itself caused all the improvement.