PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Anne Marie Albano

Publications and source records attributed to Anne Marie Albano.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

School-based intervention for adolescents with social anxiety disorder: results of a controlled study.

Social anxiety disorder, whose onset peaks in adolescence, is associated with significant impairment. Despite the availability of effective treatments, few affected youth receive services. Transporting interventions into schools may circumvent barriers to treatment. The efficacy of a school-based intervention for social anxiety disorder was examined in a randomized wait-list control trial of 35 adolescents (26 females). Independent evaluators, blind to treatment condition, evaluated participants at preintervention, postintervention, and 9 months later. Adolescents in the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater reductions than controls in social anxiety and avoidance, as well as significantly improved overall functioning. In addition, 67% of treated subjects, compared to 6% of wait-list participants, no longer met criteria for social phobia following treatment. Findings support the possible efficacy of school-based intervention for facilitating access to treatment for socially anxious adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Computer-assisted cognitive therapy for depression: maintaining efficacy while reducing therapist time.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this investigation was to compare the efficacy of computer-assisted cognitive therapy against standard cognitive therapy and a control group without treatment for outpatients with nonpsychotic major depressive disorder. METHOD: Medication-free participants (N=45) with major depressive disorder were randomly assigned to cognitive therapy (N=15), computer-assisted cognitive therapy (N=15), or a wait list (N=15). Both active treatments consisted of nine sessions over 8 weeks. Therapist time was reduced after the first visit for computer-assisted cognitive therapy, with 25-minute sessions rather than 50-minute sessions. Assessments were completed pretreatment, after 4 and 8 weeks of therapy, and 3 and 6 months posttreatment. RESULTS: Computer-assisted cognitive therapy and standard cognitive therapy were superior to the wait list control group for treatment of depression and did not differ from each other on the primary outcome variables. Very large between-group effect sizes were observed. Improvement in depression for both computer-assisted cognitive therapy and standard cognitive therapy was maintained at the 3- and 6-month follow-up evaluations. Computer-assisted cognitive therapy had more robust effects, relative to being wait-listed, than standard cognitive therapy in reducing measures of cognitive distortion and in improving knowledge about cognitive therapy. CONCLUSIONS: A multimedia, computer-assisted form of cognitive therapy with reduced therapist contact was as efficacious as standard cognitive therapy. Computer-assisted therapy could decrease costs and improve access to cognitive therapy for depression.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Parental expectancies and childhood anxiety disorders: psychometric properties of the Parental Expectancies Scale.

The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Parental Expectancies Scale (PES) in childhood anxiety disorder and normative samples. The PES is a 20-item self-report instrument that assesses five dimensions of parental expectancies in academic, extra-curricular, household, social, and general success areas. Results indicated that the PES has high test-retest reliability and internal consistency. Regarding validity, PES subscale scores discriminated clinical and normative groups. Principal component and confirmatory factor analyses supported the construct validity of the scale. The PES appears to be a reliable and valid instrument for quantifying parental expectancies. Implications as to case formulation and prescriptive treatment planning with anxious youth are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy for anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adolescents: an evidence-based medicine review.

OBJECTIVE: To review the literature on the cognitive-behavioral treatment of children and adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders within the conceptual framework of evidence-based medicine. METHOD: The psychiatric and psychological literature was systematically searched for controlled trials applying cognitive-behavioral treatment to pediatric anxiety and depressive disorders. RESULTS: For both anxiety and depression, substantial evidence supports the efficacy of problem-specific cognitive-behavioral interventions. Comparisons with wait-list, inactive control, and active control conditions suggest medium to large effects for symptom reduction in primary outcome domains. CONCLUSIONS: From an evidence-based perspective, cognitive-behavioral therapy is currently the treatment of choice for anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adolescents. Future research in this area will need to focus on comparing cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy with other treatments, component analyses, and the application of exportable protocol-driven treatments to divergent settings and patient populations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

The functional profiles of school refusal behavior. Diagnostic aspects.

School refusal behavior is a common problem seen by mental health professionals and by educators but little consensus is available as to its classification, assessment, and treatment. This study assessed 143 youth with primary school refusal behavior and their parents to examine diagnoses that are most commonly associated with proposed functions of school refusal behavior. As expected, results indicated that great heterogeneity in diagnoses marks this population. In general, anxiety-related diagnoses were associated more with negatively reinforced school refusal behavior; separation anxiety disorder was associated more with attention-seeking behavior; and oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder were associated more with pursuit of tangible reinforcement outside of school. These results are discussed within the context of classification, assessment, and treatment of this population.

Absenteeism↗