A brand new study by Stellenbosch University PhD candidate, Naomi Myburgh, under the supervision of Professor Loxton is setting out to develop a feasible, context-sensitive and effective Cognitive-behavioural intervention to curb childhood anxiety in a South African community.
The presence of elevated levels of anxiety in childhood is a pervasive problem worldwide, particularly amongst children who find themselves in vulnerable communities. Importantly, it has been established that elevated levels of anxiety in childhood are related to the development of anxiety disorders and a number of other occupational, emotional and educational difficulties. Group-based Cognitive-behavioural intervention programmes show great promise in lowering elevated levels of anxiety and in preventing the development of disorder.
The Anxiety Intervention Study is made up of two phases. The first phase will involve culturally adapting an existing evidence-based group cognitive-behavioural intervention programme for a specific group of Afrikaans-speaking South Africa children who are vulnerable due to a context of poverty and parental alcohol abuse. The second phase is the testing of the efficacy and evaluating the feasibility of the adapted version of the intervention programme in a pilot study.
The primary aim of the study is therefore twofold: 1) to adapt culturally an existing, effective group-based intervention programme and 2) to test the effectiveness of the adapted version of the intervention programme in a pilot study quantitatively by measuring the level of anxiety before and after the intervention in both an immediate intervention group and a delayed intervention control group; and to test the feasibility of the adaptation qualitatively by observing children’s responses to the intervention programme, and by means of self-report questionnaires and focus groups that will evaluate the children’s personal experiences of the programme.
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