Although Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) represents the gold standard treatment for pediatric anxiety disorders, research has indicated opportunities to further advance its effectiveness and efficacy. Studies identifying the core active CBT ingredients and moderators of treatment outcome can facilitate such advancement. The current study utilized an observational coding measure to evaluate the relative strength of therapist Exposure and Cognitive Extensiveness associated with session-by-session and post-treatment outcomes. Participants (aged 8-17) were 73 youth with a principal anxiety disorder diagnosis who completed a manual-based CBT protocol (Coping Cat; Kendall & Hedtke, 2006). Video recordings of two exposure sessions per participant was observed and coded for Exposure and Cognitive Extensiveness. Anxiety symptoms were rated by clinicians at pre- and post-treatment, as well as by children and parents prior to each session and at post-treatment. Session-by-session multiple regression analysis indicated a trend for Exposure Extensiveness to be associated with increased child and parent-reported symptom severity in the first half of exposure sessions (Sessions 9-12), and statistically significant child-reported improvement in the second half of exposure sessions (Session 13-16). Although Cognitive Extensiveness was not associated with outcomes when analyzing the sample as a whole, age and frequency of negative automatic thoughts significantly moderated the relationship between average Cognitive Extensiveness and post-treatment clinician-rated outcomes.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Clinical Psychology
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_8255
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (vii, 63 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
Psy.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Cognitive theory
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Anxiety disorders
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Mina Yadegar
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001800001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
Rutgers University. Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
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License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.