Examining the Efficacy of Mindfulness Cognitive Therapy to Reduce Anxiety Symptoms in Children
Date
2019-11
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Abstract
Anxiety disorders are a prevalent childhood psychopathology and can lead to significant distress and interference in children’s daily functioning. Hence, there is a consistent need for empirically supported interventions to alleviate children’s distress associated with anxiety issues. One promising intervention for childhood anxiety that warrant further empirical attention is Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). A randomized controlled trial with waitlist controls was employed to examine the effects of MBCT to reduce anxiety symptoms in children, who were aged 9-12. The study also examined whether participation in MBCT was associated with mindfulness growth and improvements in emotional reactivity in children. Stratified randomization procedure, having participants’ anxiety symptom severity and sex as co-variates, was carried out to assign participants into either the intervention (n = 12) or control (n = 13) group. The intervention group completed a 12-week manualized MBCT program, and self- and parent-reports of child’s anxiety symptoms were collected at baseline screening, post-MBCT, and a one-month follow-up. Intervention participants also reported on their mindfulness and emotional reactivity at pre-, mid-, and post-MBCT, and a one-month follow-up. Self- and parent-reports of anxiety were also collected at baseline screening and post-MBCT for the control group. Intervention parents reported significant decreases in the number and severity of their child’s anxiety symptoms from baseline screening to post-MBCT, and this effect was maintained a month after intervention. There were no significant differences in the number and severity of parent-reported anxiety symptoms in the control group while control participants were waiting to receive MBCT. Both control and intervention participants did not report significant changes in their anxiety symptoms from baseline screening to post-MBCT. However, intervention participants who did report some decreases in their anxiety symptoms from baseline screening to post-MBCT, decreases in their anxiety symptoms significantly correlated with increases in their mindfulness at mid-MBCT. Finally, intervention participants did not report any significant change in their emotional reactivity from before to after intervention. Implications of these findings, along with limitations and future direction for research, are discussed.
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Keywords
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, anxiety symptoms, randomized controlled trial
Citation
Syeda, M. M. (2019). Examining the Efficacy of Mindfulness Cognitive Therapy to Reduce Anxiety Symptoms in Children (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.