Testing FIRST in Youth Outpatient Psychotherapy
Anxiety, Depression, Trauma
About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Anxiety focused on measuring anxiety, depression, trauma, behavior problems, youth, mental health, emotion regulation
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- ages 7.0-15.9 years
- at least one clinically-relevant CBCL subscale score indicating borderline/clinical-range anxiety, depression, conduct problems, or post-traumatic stress
- English fluency indicated by taking all school classes in English
Exclusion Criteria:
- current suicide risk, operationalized as active suicidal ideation or a history of suicide attempt or inpatient hospitalization for suicide risk within the last 3 months
- presence of an eating disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorder, autism spectrum disorder, or intellectual disability requiring special class placement in school
- referral for ADHD if specifically and exclusively to address inattentiveness and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity
Sites / Locations
- Harvard UniversityRecruiting
- University of Texas at AustinRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Active Comparator
FIRST
Usual Care
FIRST is built upon five empirically supported principles of change (ESPCs-i.e., feeling calm, increasing motivation, repairing thoughts, solving problems, trying the opposite). Each principle can be applied to treatment of problems spanning depression, anxiety (including OCD and PTS), and conduct problems-thus encompassing a majority of the youths seen in outpatient care. Its design addresses breadth of problem coverage, youth comorbidity, and flux in youth treatment needs during episodes of care. It is used in conjunction with performance feedback via a web-based tracking system that gives clinicians weekly data on youth treatment response. FIRST has treatment and training efficiency, and efficient clinician skill-building is supported by group consultation.
Treatment in the usual care (UC) condition will use the clinical procedures therapists consider appropriate and believe to be effective.