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CompletedNCT02205203Updated Mar 29, 2021

Youth Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach Randomized Controlled Trial

An interventional study of Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach and Treatment as Usual in Anxiety, sponsored by Stephen Whiteside. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 7 Years to 17 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-03-29.

Sponsored by Stephen Whiteside · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
145
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
7 Years to 17 Years
Sex
All
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Study summary

This research study aims to test the feasibility and effectiveness of using the Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach smartphone app as an addition to traditional therapy for the treatment of anxiety disorders in youth, particularly those youth who may have limited access to mental health treatment in the traditional clinical setting.

Read the detailed description

60 therapists in underserved areas will treat children with anxiety disorders in one of three conditions (treatment as usual, Anxiety Coach with face-to-face therapy, or Anxiety Coach with minimal direct contact) to determine the feasibility of using of Anxiety Coach to increase the frequency of exposure and improve outcomes with varying degrees of face-to-face contact (N = 60 patients).

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Conditions studied

  • Anxiety

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Keywords

  • Anxiety
  • Social Anxiety
  • Social Phobia
  • Separation Anxiety
  • Generalized Anxiety
  • GAD
  • Phobia
  • Panic
  • Agoraphobia
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • OCD
  • Child
  • Adolescent
  • Smartphone
  • Teen
  • Youth
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In context

Anxiety Disorders

4,868 studies on the registry are indexed under Anxiety Disorders; 1,390 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 145 is above the median of 80 across 4,174 interventional studies indexed under Anxiety Disorders.

Browse Anxiety Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Stephen Whiteside as lead sponsor.

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

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
7 Years to 17 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. Age 7 to 17
  2. Primary diagnosis of:

    1. social phobia,
    2. separation anxiety disorder,
    3. panic disorder with and without agoraphobia,
    4. specific phobia, or
    5. obsessive compulsive disorder
  3. A parent or other primary care giver available to participate with the child in all assessment and treatment activities
  4. Estimated average intelligence
  5. English speaking

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. History of and/or current diagnosis of:

    1. psychosis,
    2. autism,
    3. bipolar disorder,
    4. mental retardation,
    5. oppositional defiant disorder,
    6. PTSD,
    7. selective mutism, or
    8. major depressive disorder
  2. Current suicidality or recent suicidal behavior
  3. Parent to be involved in study who is unable to adequately participate due to intellectual or psychiatric difficulties
  4. Starting or changing the dosage of a psychiatric medication in the last two months
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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
145 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Face-to-Face w/ Anxiety Coach (FTF-AC)

    In this condition therapists will provide 6 to 12 50-minute, face-to-face therapy sessions using Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach. The sessions are expected to initially occur weekly and be within the office although the therapist can leave the office to conduct exposure. The therapist is expected to utilize Anxiety Coach within the session, encourage the patient to use the application to complete homework, and review progress in-session via the web-based portal.

    Device: Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach

  • Experimental
    Treatment as Usual (TAU)

    In the TAU condition therapists provide treatment consistent with their orientation and clinical judgment. Previous research suggests that TAU will include supportive therapy, relaxation, and cognitive restructuring. The format of treatment will be 6 to 12, 50-minute, face-to-face therapy sessions in the therapist's office, with flexibility to leave the office (e.g., for exposure). Therapists can communicate with patients between sessions (e.g., phone calls), as long as this medium is not the primary mode of treatment.

    Other: Treatment as Usual

Interventions

  • DeviceMayo Clinic Anxiety Coach

    Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach is a smartphone application based on cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders (i.e., exposure-based therapy) that can be used as 1) a stand-alone treatment requiring minimal provider contact, and 2) an augmentation of face-to-face treatment that increases clinician fidelity and patient adherence to evidence-based treatment. The design of Anxiety Coach is based on evidence and theory suggesting that information and communication technologies (ICTs) are well-suited for encouraging behavior change through 1) scheduled reminders to engage in therapeutic exercises, 2) point of performance support, 3) individually tailored information, 4) real-time symptom assessment, and 5) readily accessible asynchronous communication.

  • OtherTreatment as Usual

    In the TAU condition therapists provide treatment consistent with their orientation and clinical judgment. Previous research suggests that TAU will include supportive therapy, relaxation, and cognitive restructuring. The format of treatment will be 6 to 12, 50-minute, face-to-face therapy sessions in the therapist's office, with flexibility to leave the office (e.g., for exposure).

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Mean change from Baseline in Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS) at Treatment Completion

    The Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS) is an interview-based tool used to assess for the presence and severity of anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents utilizing parental and youth input to guide clinician ratings.

    Time frame: Within 5 working days of Treatment Completion

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Study locations

1 site
  • Mayo Clinic in Rochester
    Rochester, Minnesota 55905, United States
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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 29, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02205203
Lead sponsor
Stephen Whiteside
Collaborators
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Responsible party
Stephen Whiteside (Professor of Psychology, Mayo Clinic) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Jul 31, 2014
Start date
Jan 1, 2019
Primary completion
Jun 1, 2020
Completion
Mar 1, 2021
Last update
Mar 29, 2021

Study contacts

Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D., L.P.
principal investigator · Mayo Clinic

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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