ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT02051192PLETUpdated Oct 6, 2016

Brief Behavioral Treatment for Anxiety in Young Children

A Phase 1/2 interventional study of Parent-Led Exposure Therapy and Treatment As Usual in Obsessive-compulsive Disorder, Social Phobia and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, sponsored by University of South Florida. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 3 Years to 7 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2016-10-06.

Sponsored by University of South Florida · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 1/2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
58
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
3 Years to 7 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Behaviorally and cognitive-behaviorally based therapeutic techniques (BT; CBT) that incorporate exposure therapy useful for treatment of anxiety disorders among typically developing children. Although a large amount of data demonstrate the effectiveness of of BT and CBT approaches for treating anxious youth, there is a gap in the literature for the effectiveness of these approaches for children under the age of seven. Evidence increasingly suggests that family factors such as accommodation and parenting style contribute significantly to the presence of anxiety symptoms as well as treatment outcomes, particularly in young children. These findings stress the importance of using a treatment approach in which parents are directly involved in education, parent training, and generalization of treatment effects. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate a new treatment program, parent-led behavioral treatment, for children ages 3 to 7 years of age who have a principal anxiety disorder diagnosis.

02

Conditions studied

  • Obsessive-compulsive Disorder
  • Social Phobia
  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder
  • Specific Phobia
  • Separation Anxiety Disorder
  • Selective Mutism
  • Anxiety Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified

Keywords

  • obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • Social phobia
  • Generalized anxiety disorder
  • Specific phobia
  • Separation anxiety disorder
  • Selective Mutism
  • Anxiety Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified
  • Counseling
  • Behavioral therapy
  • Psychotherapy
  • Exposure
  • Young Children
03

In context

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

635 studies on the registry are indexed under Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; 166 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 58 is above the median of 45 across 520 interventional studies indexed under Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Browse Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder studies →

Lead sponsor

University of South Florida is the lead sponsor of 340 studies on the registry; 65 are open to participants now.

Of its 17 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 4 (24%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
3 Years to 7 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Outpatient children between the ages 3-7 years.
  • Meets criteria for a primary diagnosis of an anxiety disorder or achieves a minimum score of 12 Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS)
  • Child has a PPVT IV SS > 80.
  • Patients with co-morbid depression, ADHD, tic disorder or disruptive behavior disorders will be included as long as anxiety is primary (i.e., most impairing/distressing).

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

    • (a) Current suicidality or (b) individuals who have engaged in suicidal behaviors within 6 months will be excluded and referred for appropriate clinical intervention.

      • Receiving concurrent psychotherapy, social skills training, or behavioral interventions (e.g., applied behavior analysis). Families will have the option of discontinuing such services to enroll in the study. Those randomized treatment as usual (TAU) will be able to continue or initiate psychosocial interventions (psychotherapy, social skills training, applied behavior analysis, or family therapy) whereas those randomized to PLET will not receive these interventions concurrent with PLET.
      • Any change in established psychotropic medication (e.g., antidepressants, anxioloytics, antipsychotics, stimulants) within 10 weeks before study. Those randomized to TAU may make medication changes following randomization, including starting a medication; those randomized to PLET will remain stable on medications during the study.
      • Absence of language.
      • A formal diagnosis of mental retardation or autism spectrum disorder.
      • Unwillingness of parents to make the commitment to accompany their child for multiple study visits, unwillingness to take part in randomization, inability to attend sessions twice weekly as therapist availability allows, inability to attend assessment visits.
      • Presence of a significant and/or unstable medical illness which might lead to hospitalization during the study.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

DSM diagnostic criteria

The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1 / Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
58 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Parent-Led Exposure Therapy (PLET)

    Therapists will work with families for 10 sessions, twice weekly. The first treatment session will be a 90 minute parent only psychoeducation and treatment preparation session. Each subsequent session will last up to 60 minutes and will consist of exposure therapy using developmentally appropriate modulated behavioral approaches such as Participant modeling (PM) and Reinforced practice (RP).

    Behavioral: Parent-Led Exposure Therapy

  • Active comparator
    Treatment As Usual

    Patients randomized to the TAU arm will be instructed to continue receiving their prior interventions as recommended by their providers (e.g., psychotherapy, social skills training, behavioral interventions, family participation in family therapy or a parenting class, or pharmacological interventions). Treatment changes (e.g., medication increase, starting psychotherapy in the community) are not prohibited and will be monitored. Thus, treatment will continue as it would in standard practice.

    Other: Treatment As Usual

Interventions

  • BehavioralParent-Led Exposure Therapy

    Therapists will work with families for 10 sessions, twice weekly. The first treatment session will be a 90 minute parent only psychoeducation and treatment preparation session. Each subsequent session will last up to 60 minutes and will consist of exposure therapy using developmentally appropriate modulated behavioral approaches such as Participant modeling (PM) and Reinforced practice (RP).

    Also known as: Brief Behavioral Treatment for Anxiety in Young Children

  • OtherTreatment As Usual

    Patients randomized to the TAU arm will be instructed to continue receiving their prior interventions as recommended by their providers (e.g., psychotherapy, social skills training, behavioral interventions, family participation in family therapy or a parenting class, or pharmacological interventions). Treatment changes (e.g., medication increase, starting psychotherapy in the community) are not prohibited and will be monitored. Thus, treatment will continue as it would in standard practice. These participants may also elect to receive no treatment at all during the TAU period.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale

    The PARS is a clinician-rated scale assessing anxiety symptoms and the associated severity and impairment in children over the past week.

    Time frame: after 5 weeks of treatment

  2. Clinical Global Impression - Severity

    The CGI-S is a 7-point clinician rating of severity of psychopathology anchored by 1 ("no illness") and 7 ("very severe").

    Time frame: After 5 weeks of treatment

  3. Clinical Global Improvement

    The CGI is a 7-point rating of treatment response anchored by 1 ("very much improved) and 7 ("very much worse"). Youth being rated by the IE as 1 ("very much improved") and 2 ("much improved") will be considered treatment responders.

    Time frame: After 5 weeks of treatment

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Rothman Center for Pediatric Neuropsychiatry - University of South Florida
    St. Petersburg, Florida 33701, United States
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Jan 2014, a primary completion of Aug 2016 and a completion of Aug 2016. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jan 29, 2014
First posted
Jan 31, 2014
Start
Jan 2014
Primary completionActual
Aug 2016
CompletionActual
Aug 2016
Last update
Oct 6, 2016
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 6, 2016, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02051192
Responsible party
Adam Lewin (Assistant Professor, University of South Florida) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jan 31, 2014
Start date
Jan 2014
Primary completion
Aug 2016
Completion
Aug 2016
Last update
Oct 6, 2016

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2016. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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