Influence of Parental Collaboration on Group Therapy Outcomes for Anxious Children

Providing psychotherapy to youth inherently requires some involvement from parents. Kendall (2000) identified three types of parent involvement: consultants, co-clients, and collaborators. Research examining the potential benefits of incorporating parents as co-clients and collaborators in individual and group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxious children has found mixed results, likely due to methodological issues (e.g., not specifically measuring the type nor the amount of parental collaboration over the course of treatment), as well as child/family factors. Furthermore, these studies have often ignored how parental involvement impacts the treatment of social functioning, and less is known related to the impact of parental collaboration on group treatment outcomes in clinical service settings. This study attempted to address these research limitations by examining the influence of type and amount of parental collaboration on the outcomes of a resilience-based group CBT intervention that targets social functioning known as the Resilience Builder Program® (RBP; Alvord, Zucker, & Grados, 2011) for anxious children in a private practice setting. Participants consisted of 99 children (Mage= 9.73; 72.7% male; 82.8% Caucasian; 63.6% on medication) enrolled in RBP at a large private psychotherapy practice. Parents of boys, children with co-morbid Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and those who participated in RBP for the first time reported higher amounts of assistance on the success journals over the course of therapy. Greater use of therapy terms at home was related to younger child age and greater parental psychopathology. Greater amount of collaboration over the course of therapy was related to higher pre-therapy ratings of anxiety, whereas higher ratings of the combination of specific types of collaboration at post-treatment (i.e., assisting with homework and the success journal) was related to higher family income, greater number of children in the household, and better pre-therapy ratings of family communication. Similarly, higher ratings of assistance on the success journals at post-treatment were significantly related to higher family income and greater number of children in the household. Additionally, higher ratings of assistance of homework at post-treatment were significantly related to pre-therapy ratings of family communication. Results found significant improvements in children’s emotional, social, and behavioral functioning following treatment with RBP; however, parental collaboration was not predictive of improvements in parent reports of children’s emotional or social/behavioral functioning. These findings provide preliminary clarification of the nature of parental collaboration in RBP and what clinical and demographic variables are associated with differences in parental collaboration for anxious children.Psychologychildhood anxiety, parental collaboration, therapy outcomesPsychologyDegree Awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of Americ