A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trial of Group CBT in Urban Schools

NCT ID: NCT02651402

Last Updated: 2021-04-08

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

495 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2016-02-29

Study Completion Date

2021-02-28

Brief Summary

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Unresolved psychological problems, such as anxiety, affect a significant number of our students and interfere with their ability to attend, actively participate, and prosper in school. This project will expand the capacity of selected mental health agencies to provide services in the participating schools through school therapeutic services (STS). The project will provide enhanced training in evidence-based behavioral health interventions to school-based mental health providers. The services will be implemented by STS Bachelor's or Master's level therapists supervised by their mental health agency supervisors (Internal Support), who are in turn supported by the research team (Train-the-Trainer) or external consultants (Train the Trainer+).

Detailed Description

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Background/Purpose: This project will expand the capacity of selected mental health agencies to provide services in the participating schools through school therapeutic services (STS). The project will provide enhanced training in evidence-based behavioral health interventions to school-based mental health providers. The services will be implemented by STS Master's level therapists supervised by their mental health agency supervisors (Internal Support), who are in turn supported by the research team (TT) or external consultants (TT+).

Population: 18 schools in Philadelphia will be chosen for participation. Students who present excessive anxiety in grades 4-8 would be potentially eligible to participate in the interventions offered by the agencies' therapists in their school.

Intervention: This study is designed to test: a) the effectiveness of an adapted version of a group cognitive behavioral therapy program (aFRIENDS) compared to the original version of this program (FRIENDS), and b) the effectiveness of two implementation support strategies for aFRIENDS: Train-the-Trainer and Train-the-Trainer Plus. aFRIENDS is a shorter, more culturally sensitive, focused, and feasible CBT for anxiety in children than FRIENDS and addresses one of the major barriers to implementation (intervention-context fit).

Design: Therapists and supervisors will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a) FRIENDS with Train-the-Trainer implementation strategy (i.e., Masters-level supervisors receive training by experts on conducting supervision); b) aFRIENDS with Train-the-Trainer strategy; c) aFRIENDS using the Train-the-Trainer Plus strategy (i.e., supervisors receive training and consultation by experts on conducting supervision).

Analyses: Effectiveness will be measured by comparing A to B; Implementation will be measured by comparing B to C. Agency therapists will conduct all treatment groups in the schools.

Conditions

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Anxiety Disorders

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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FRIENDS for Life Train-the-Trainer

Therapists implement FRIENDS (a CBT protocol for students with anxiety) in the school setting, while supported by their supervisor assigned to the Train-the-Trainer (TT) implementation strategy (supervisors participate in training workshops on conducting supervision with active therapists).

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

FRIENDS for Life

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Friends for Life (FRIENDS): FRIENDS, a GCBT program, is an effective program for the prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders in children evidenced by a meta-analysis on school-based interventions for at-risk and clinically anxious youth. FRIENDS was developed based on the view that anxiety is a tripartite construct involving physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components. Core Intervention components: Experts in CBT for childhood anxiety disorders have identified 5 essential components: psychoeducation, somatic management skills training, cognitive restructuring, exposure methods, and contingency management. The FRIENDS protocol consists of 10 weekly sessions and two booster sessions. We included the booster sessions in the regular protocol for a total of 12 sessions.

Train-the-Trainer

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Train the Trainer (TT): agency supervisors are trained to conduct effective supervision (one initial training and 2 booster sessions), and then go on to train intervention therapists.

Adapted FRIENDS Train-the-Trainer

Therapists implement an adapted version of FRIENDS (aFRIENDS) in the school setting while supported by their supervisor assigned to the TT strategy.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Adapted FRIENDS

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Adapted Friends (aFRIENDS): We conducted planned adaptations to the FRIENDS protocol based on our collective experience with the protocol and qualitative data (focus group and interviews). We followed procedures developed by Lee and colleagues, including surveying service providers and trainers regarding the appropriateness of FRIENDS for the target population. Changes were made to the language (idioms, metaphors, words), cultural fit (cultural values), methods (session length, number of sessions), activities (in-session practices), which resulted in additions and substitutions in these areas while maintaining the 5 essential components of the treatment. aFRIENDS is a briefer (8-session) and more engaging and culturally-sensitive protocol than FRIENDS.

Train-the-Trainer

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Train the Trainer (TT): agency supervisors are trained to conduct effective supervision (one initial training and 2 booster sessions), and then go on to train intervention therapists.

Adapted FRIENDS Train-the-Trainer Plus

Therapists implement aFRIENDS in the school setting while supported by their supervisor assigned to the Train-the-Trainer Plus (TT+) implementation strategy (supervisors participate in training workshops and receive further/on-going consultation on conducting supervision with active therapists).

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Adapted FRIENDS

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Adapted Friends (aFRIENDS): We conducted planned adaptations to the FRIENDS protocol based on our collective experience with the protocol and qualitative data (focus group and interviews). We followed procedures developed by Lee and colleagues, including surveying service providers and trainers regarding the appropriateness of FRIENDS for the target population. Changes were made to the language (idioms, metaphors, words), cultural fit (cultural values), methods (session length, number of sessions), activities (in-session practices), which resulted in additions and substitutions in these areas while maintaining the 5 essential components of the treatment. aFRIENDS is a briefer (8-session) and more engaging and culturally-sensitive protocol than FRIENDS.

Train-the-Trainer Plus

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Train the Trainer Plus (TT+): a modified train-the-trainer approach by which supervisors receive training plus extended on-going consultation on conducting effective supervision with intervention therapists.

Interventions

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FRIENDS for Life

Friends for Life (FRIENDS): FRIENDS, a GCBT program, is an effective program for the prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders in children evidenced by a meta-analysis on school-based interventions for at-risk and clinically anxious youth. FRIENDS was developed based on the view that anxiety is a tripartite construct involving physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components. Core Intervention components: Experts in CBT for childhood anxiety disorders have identified 5 essential components: psychoeducation, somatic management skills training, cognitive restructuring, exposure methods, and contingency management. The FRIENDS protocol consists of 10 weekly sessions and two booster sessions. We included the booster sessions in the regular protocol for a total of 12 sessions.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Adapted FRIENDS

Adapted Friends (aFRIENDS): We conducted planned adaptations to the FRIENDS protocol based on our collective experience with the protocol and qualitative data (focus group and interviews). We followed procedures developed by Lee and colleagues, including surveying service providers and trainers regarding the appropriateness of FRIENDS for the target population. Changes were made to the language (idioms, metaphors, words), cultural fit (cultural values), methods (session length, number of sessions), activities (in-session practices), which resulted in additions and substitutions in these areas while maintaining the 5 essential components of the treatment. aFRIENDS is a briefer (8-session) and more engaging and culturally-sensitive protocol than FRIENDS.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Train-the-Trainer

Train the Trainer (TT): agency supervisors are trained to conduct effective supervision (one initial training and 2 booster sessions), and then go on to train intervention therapists.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Train-the-Trainer Plus

Train the Trainer Plus (TT+): a modified train-the-trainer approach by which supervisors receive training plus extended on-going consultation on conducting effective supervision with intervention therapists.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

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FRIENDS aFRIENDS TT TT+

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. Supervisors: Any participating agency clinical supervisor with a Master's degree or higher in a mental health field.
2. Therapists: Any STS therapist with a Bachelor's degree or higher who provides services in one of the 18 participating schools.
3. Students: Any student enrolled in grades 4-8 in one of the participating schools, who had been referred to the STS program in their school and who meets study screening and diagnostic criteria. The screening criterion is a Total score \> 25 on Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) completed by a parent or school staff member. This student must also present a primary positive or intermediate diagnosis of Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD\]) Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), or Social Phobia (SP) on the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule (ADIS); completed by a parent during the eligibility evaluation.
4. If, at the conclusion of the eligibility evaluation, students do not meet diagnostic criteria (see above) to participate in the study, but parents and school staff continue to express concern about functional impairment, students will be permitted to participate in the intervention sessions (with parent permission). We also expect that there might be a very small number of eligible children whose parents may not give consent, and some of these parents and school personnel might want these children to benefit from the intervention. As such, we would like to offer these children the opportunity to participate along with the research subjects. This group of students will not be identified as "research subjects" and study data will not be collected from them. However, parents will be asked to sign a permission form for the video recording of the group sessions. This is the procedure we currently follow for our National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) funded project, which has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and School District of Philadelphia.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Supervisors or therapists not involved in STS.
2. Students with Special Education classification of "Intellectual Disability;" children whose primary diagnosis is not SAD, GAS or SP.
3. Students with a history of psychotic or autistic spectrum disorders according to school records.

* Students meeting criteria in #2 \& #3 above will be excluded from participation because they would be unlikely to benefit from Global Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (GCBTS).

Subjects that do not meet all of the enrollment criteria may not be enrolled. Any violations of these criteria must be reported in accordance with IRB Policies and Procedures.
Minimum Eligible Age

8 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

99 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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University of Pennsylvania

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

NIH

Sponsor Role collaborator

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Ricardo B Eiraldi, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Locations

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Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Eiraldi R, Lawson GM, Glick HA, Khanna MS, Beidas R, Fishman J, Rabenau-McDonnell Q, Wilson T, Comly R, Schwartz BS, Jawad AF. Implementation fidelity, student outcomes, and cost-effectiveness of train-the-trainer strategies for Masters-level therapists in urban schools: results from a cluster randomized trial. Implement Sci. 2024 Jan 25;19(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s13012-023-01333-9.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 38273369 (View on PubMed)

Lawson GM, Comly R, Beidas RS, Khanna MS, Goldstein J, Brizzolara-Dove S, Wilson T, Rabenau-McDonnell Q, Eiraldi R. Therapist and supervisor perspectives about two train-the-trainer implementation strategies in schools: A qualitative study. Implement Res Pract. 2023 Aug 3;4:26334895231190854. doi: 10.1177/26334895231190854. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 37790186 (View on PubMed)

Eiraldi R, Khanna MS, Jawad AF, Fishman J, Glick HA, Schwartz BS, Cacia J, Wandersman A, Beidas R. A hybrid effectiveness-implementation cluster randomized trial of group CBT for anxiety in urban schools: rationale, design, and methods. Implement Sci. 2016 Jul 12;11:92. doi: 10.1186/s13012-016-0453-z.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 27405587 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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1R01MH108555-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

15-012311

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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