Acceptance and commitment therapy group protocol for caregivers of anxious youth: an open trial pilot study

Jacquelyn N Raftery-Helmer; Ashley S Hart; Madeline R Levitt; Steven M Hodge; Lisa W Coyne; Phoebe S Moore

doi:10.3389/frcha.2024.1347295

Acceptance and commitment therapy group protocol for caregivers of anxious youth: an open trial pilot study

Front Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2024 Sep 27:3:1347295. doi: 10.3389/frcha.2024.1347295. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Jacquelyn N Raftery-Helmer¹, Ashley S Hart², Madeline R Levitt³, Steven M Hodge², Lisa W Coyne⁴, Phoebe S Moore²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, United States.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, United States.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Anxiety disorders are common, distressing, and impairing for children and families. Cognitive-behavioral interventions targeting the role of family interactions in child anxiety treatment may be limited by lack of attention to antecedents to parental control; specifically, internal parent factors such as experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion. This pilot study evaluates the preliminary efficacy of a group-delivered caregiver treatment program, ACT for Parents of Anxious Children (ACT-PAC) that targets parental experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion, and child internalizing symptoms.

Methods: Twenty-three youth ages 7-17 years with a primary anxiety disorder diagnosis and their primary caregiver participated in six one-hour, weekly group treatment sessions. Parents and children reported on child symptomatology and parents reported on parent symptomatology and quality of life at two assessment points: within one week before ACT-PAC treatment and within one week after treatment. Parents self-reported on parental internal processes specifically targeted by ACT (e.g., cognitive fusion) weekly during the 6-week treatment.

Results: Results support the feasibility and acceptability of ACT-PAC and indicate reductions in parents' cognitive fusion and child internalizing symptoms.

Keywords: acceptance and commitment therapy; child anxiety; child internalizing problems; cognitive fusion; parenting.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This paper was supported in part by a grant awarded to Phoebe S. Moore from The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School Shine Initiative and a faculty scholar award from The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School awarded to Phoebe S. Moore.