Examining adherence to components of cognitive-behavioral therapy for youth anxiety after training and consultation.

The present study examined 115 service providers' adherence to components of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for youth anxiety prior to training, post workshop training, and after three months of weekly consultation. Adherence was measured using a role-play with a trained actor. We examined differences in individual adherence to CBT components across time and the relationship between number of consultation sessions attended and adherence ratings following consultation. Findings indicated that somatic arousal identification and relaxation were the most used treatment components prior to training. Adherence to all components of CBT increased following workshop training, except the usage of problem-solving. Adherence to problem-solving, positive reinforcement, the identification of anxious self-talk, and the creation of coping thoughts increased following consultation but usage of problem-solving remained low compared to other treatment components. Overall adherence remained less than optimal at the final measurement point. Number of consultation sessions attended predicted post-consultation adherence to identification of somatic arousal, identification of anxious self-talk, and positive reinforcement. Implications include tailoring future training based on baseline levels of adherence and spending more time during training and consultation on underutilized CBT components, such as problem-solving. Limitations of the present study, including how adherence was measured, are discussed. This study adds to the implementation science literature by providing more nuanced information on changes in adherence over the course of training and consultation of service providers.

Barriers to and Facilitators in the Implementation of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Youth Anxiety in the Community.

OBJECTIVE: The study examined, from the perspective of therapists, the barriers to and facilitators in implementing cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxious youths in community settings. METHODS: Fifty therapists (43% of the original training sample of 115 providers) participated in a follow-up interview two years after training and consultation. They reported on barriers to and facilitators in implementation of CBT for youths with anxiety. RESULTS: Qualitative analyses identified numerous barriers and facilitators, including client factors (for example, motivated clients facilitated the use of CBT, whereas clients with complex issues and numerous psychosocial stressors hindered its use), intervention factors (the structure of CBT helped facilitate its use for some providers, whereas others reported feeling constrained by such structure), and organizational factors (for example, the absence of support within one's institution served as a barrier, whereas supervision supporting the use of CBT facilitated implementation). CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this implementation trial align with conceptual implementation frameworks and may guide the tailoring of future implementation efforts in order to overcome barriers and maximize facilitators.

Sustaining clinician penetration, attitudes and knowledge in cognitive-behavioral therapy for youth anxiety.

BACKGROUND: Questions remain regarding the sustainment of evidence-based practices following implementation. The present study examined the sustainment of community clinicians' implementation (i.e., penetration) of cognitive-behavioral therapy, attitudes toward evidence-based practices, and knowledge of cognitive-behavioral therapy for youth anxiety two years following training and consultation in cognitive-behavioral therapy for youth anxiety. METHODS: Of the original 115 participants, 50 individuals (43%) participated in the two-year follow-up. A t- test examined sustainment in penetration over time. Hierarchical linear modeling examined sustainment in knowledge and attitudes over time. Time spent in consultation sessions was examined as a potential moderator of the change in knowledge and attitudes. RESULTS: Findings indicated sustained self-reported penetration of cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxious youth, with low fidelity to some key CBT components (i.e., exposure tasks). Follow-up knowledge was higher than at baseline but lower than it had been immediately following the consultation phase of the study. Belief in the utility of evidence-based practices was sustained. Willingness to implement an evidence-based practice if required to do so, appeal of evidence-based practices, and openness toward evidence-based practices were not sustained. Participation in consultation positively moderated changes in knowledge and some attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: Sustainment varied depending on the outcome examined. Generally, greater participation in consultation predicted greater sustainment. Implications for future training include higher dosages of consultation.

Dissemination and Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices: Training and Consultation as Implementation Strategies.

To provide effective treatment for individuals with mental health needs, there is a movement to deploy evidence-based practices (EBPs) developed in research settings into community settings. Training clinicians in EBPs is often used as the primary implementation strategy in these efforts, despite evidence suggesting that training alone does not change therapist behavior. A promising implementation strategy that can be combined with training is consultation, or ongoing support. This paper reviews the literature on consultation following initial training. A model of consultation is presented as well as preliminary findings regarding effective consultation techniques. Future directions are offered.

An examination of behavioral rehearsal during consultation as a predictor of training outcomes.

The training literature suggests that ongoing support following initial therapist training enhances training outcomes, yet little is known about what occurs during ongoing support and what accounts for its effectiveness. The present study examined consultation sessions provided to 99 clinicians following training in cognitive-behavioral therapy for youth anxiety. Recorded consultation sessions (N = 104) were coded for content and consultative methods. It was hypothesized that behavioral rehearsal (an active learning technique) would predict therapist adherence, skill, self-efficacy, and satisfaction at post-consultation. Regression analyses found no significant relation, however, clinician involvement during consultation sessions positively moderated the relationship between behavioral rehearsals and skill. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Therapists perspectives on the effective elements of consultation following training.

Consultation is an effective implementation strategy to improve uptake of evidence-based practices for youth. However, little is known about what makes consultation effective. The present study used qualitative methods to explore therapists perspectives about consultation. We interviewed 50 therapists who had been trained 2 years prior in cognitive-behavioral therapy for child anxiety. Three themes emerged regarding effective elements of consultation: (1) connectedness with other therapists and the consultant, (2) authentic interactions around actual cases, and (3) the responsiveness of the consultant to the needs of individual therapists. Recommendations for the design of future consultation endeavors are offered.

Training and consultation to promote implementation of an empirically supported treatment: a randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: The study evaluated the efficacy of three training modalities and the impact of ongoing consultation after training. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety among youths, an empirically supported treatment, was used as the exemplar. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three one-day workshops to examine the efficacy of training modality: routine training (training as usual), computer training (computerized version of training as usual), and augmented training (training that emphasized active learning). After training, all participants received three months of ongoing consultation that included case consultation, didactics, and problem solving. METHODS: Participants were 115 community therapists (mean age of 35.9 years; 90% were women). Outcome measures included the Adherence and Skill Checklist, used to rate a performance-based role-play; a knowledge test; and the Training Satisfaction Rating Scale. RESULTS: All three training modalities resulted in limited gains in therapist adherence, skill, and knowledge. There was no significant effect of modality on adherence, skill, or knowledge from pretraining to posttraining. Participants were more satisfied with augmented and routine training than with computer training. Most important, number of consultation hours after training significantly predicted higher therapist adherence and skill at the three-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that training alone did not result in therapist behavior change. The inclusion of ongoing consultation was critical to influencing therapist adherence and skill. Implications for implementation science and mental health services research are discussed.

Training School Mental Health Providers to Deliver Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.

Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health difficulties experienced by youth. A well-established literature has identified cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) as the gold-standard psychosocial treatment for youth anxiety disorders. Access to CBT in community clinics is limited, but a potential venue for the provision of CBT for child anxiety disorders is the school setting. The present study examined a subset of data from a larger study in which therapists from a variety of settings, including schools, were trained in CBT for child anxiety (N = 17). The study investigated the relationship between provider- and organizational-level variables associated with training and implementation among school mental health providers. The present findings indicate a positive relationship between provider attitudes and adherence to CBT. Self-reported barriers to implementation were also identified. Integrating CBT into school mental health providers' repertoires through training and consultation is a critical step for dissemination and implementation of empirically supported psychosocial treatments.

History of cognitive-behavioral therapy in youth.

The numerous intervention strategies that comprise cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) reflect its complex and integrative nature and include such topics as extinction, habituation, modeling, cognitive restructuring, problem solving, and the development of coping strategies, mastery, and a sense of self-control. CBT targets multiple areas of potential vulnerability (eg, cognitive, behavioral, affective) with developmentally guided strategies and traverses multiple intervention pathways. Although CBT is often considered the "first-line treatment" for many psychological disorders in youth, additional work is necessary to address nonresponders to treatment and to facilitate the dissemination of efficacious CBT approaches.

Assessing and Treating Child Anxiety in Schools.

Anxiety disorders in youth are common and, if left untreated, can lead to a variety of negative sequelae. Randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an efficacious treatment for anxiety disorders in youth with preliminary evidence showing that CBT can be successfully transported into schools. The present article provides (a) a discussion of the inherent challenges and advantages of implementing CBT in the school setting, (b) methods used to identify anxious youth, and (c) key components of CBT for anxious youth with an emphasis on adaptation and application in the school environment. Future research directions are discussed. The successful integration of a flexible CBT approach into the domain of school mental health would be a favorable step toward effective dissemination and would ensure the enduring provision of evidence-based practice to children and adolescents struggling with anxiety.

Disasters and youth: a meta-analytic examination of posttraumatic stress.

OBJECTIVE: Meta-analyze the literature on posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms in youths post-disaster. METHOD: Meta-analytic synthesis of the literature (k = 96 studies; Ntotal = 74,154) summarizing the magnitude of associations between disasters and youth PTS, and key factors associated with variations in the magnitude of these associations. We included peer-reviewed studies published prior to 1/1/2009 that quantitatively examined youth PTS (≤ 18 years at event) after a distinct and identifiable disaster. RESULTS: Despite variability across studies, disasters had a significant effect on youth PTS (small-to-medium magnitude; rpooled = .19, SEr = .03; d = 0.4). Female gender (rpooled = .14), higher death toll (disasters of death toll ≤ 25: rpooled = .09; vs. disasters with ≥ 1,000 deaths: rpooled = .22), child proximity (rpooled = .33), personal loss (rpooled = .16), perceived threat (rpooled = .34), and distress (rpooled = .38) at time of event were each associated with increased PTS. Studies conducted within 1 year post-disaster, studies that used established measures, and studies that relied on child-report data identified a significant effect. CONCLUSION: Youths are vulnerable to appreciable PTS after disaster, with pre-existing child characteristics, aspects of the disaster experience, and study methodology each associated with variations in the effect magnitude. Findings underscore the importance of measurement considerations in post-disaster research. Areas in need of research include the long-term impact of disasters, disaster-related media exposure, prior trauma and psychopathology, social support, ethnicity/race, prejudice, parental psychopathology, and the effects of disasters in developing regions of the world. Policy and clinical implications are discussed.

Flexible Applications of the Coping Cat Program for Anxious Youth.

The current article offers suggestions for ways to adapt empirically supported treatments (ESTs). A specific manualized EST (Coping Cat; Kendall & Hedtke, 2006a) is used to illustrate the concept of "flexibility within fidelity" (Kendall & Beidas, 2007; Kendall, Gosch, Furr, & Sood, 2008). Flexibility within fidelity stresses the importance of using ESTs while considering and taking into account individual client presentations. In this discussion, recommendations are offered for the use of the Coping Cat with younger youth, adolescents, and youth with secondary comorbidities (i.e., social skills deficits, inattentive symptoms, and depressive symptoms).