Effective Treatments for Children's Emotional Disorders

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Numerous psychosocial treatments have been empirically demonstrated to reduce anxiety, depression, and other internalizing disorders in childhood. However, such empirically supported treatment (EST) programs are not as widely implemented in mental care as desirable. This gap undermines the positive impact that psychosocial treatments can have for children, and may ultimately reduce the value society will place on psychosocial treatment for mental health problems. About 13% of all school-age children have anxiety and 6% mood disorders. The long term goal of the current project, therefore, is to increase the likelihood that children receive ESTs for the mental health problems. To this end, the specific aims of the proposed Phase II work will be fully developed and make ready for commercial dissemination three products for which prototypes already exist from R&D completed in phase I. the central product is the Children's Emotional Disorders Effective Treatment Archive (CEDETA), which consists of complete kits for of all material required to implant (e.g., manual, workbooks) and evaluate each included EST. Treatments included in CEDETA were identified through a comprehensive scientific literature search and extensive evaluation by an independent Expert Panel in phase I. Access to 17 EST programs was secured in phase I, and a prototype kit for one CEDETA program was constructed and favorably evaluated by consumers. The specific aim for phase II is to make all materials for each EST program in CEDETA ready for commercial distribution by the end of the grant period. These kits will be marketed and sold to mental health practitioners, clinics, and systems. The other two products enhance the use of CEDETA by (1) facilitating the selection of the right treatment for a mental health practitioner's needs, through an online search procedure; and (2) providing professional continuing education (CE) training to the implementation of EST. specific phase II aims are to make these two ancillary products ready for commercial distribution by the end of the grant period. Technically usability testing and consumer feedback will be used extensively throughout the R&D process to ensure that all products meet the needs of mental health practitioners. In addition, [a] randomized experiment enrolling [80] practitioners in total, will be conducted to evaluate features of these products to advance knowledge about EST as a clinical approach and inform further R&D. This experiment will test whether CEDETA and its associated products improve practitioners': (A) knowledge about, (B) general attitude towards, (C) intent to use, (D) actual use of ESTs for internalizing problems. About 13% of all school-age children have anxiety and 6% mood disorders. A minority receive treatment for these problems, and when they do, it is generally not a treatment that has been scientifically demonstrated to work. The long-term goal of the current project, therefore, is to increase the likelihood that children receive empirically supported psychosocial treatments for these mental health problems.