Assessment and Prevention of the Early Signs of Anxiety and Depression in Children. [ 2000 - 2001 ]

Research Grant

Researchers: Prof Mark Dadds (Principal investigator)

Brief description Anxiety and depression are common mental health problems and children rate them as their most common emotional problems. Recent research has indicated that brief psychotherapy programs are effective in reducing these problems in 8 to 14 year olds, however, the earliest signs of these problems are detectable in the preschool years. Thus there is an urgent need for adequately evaluated community prevention programs to address the promotion of sound mental health in much younger children. The aim of this study is to conduct a comprehensive controlled trial of a community based programme for the detection and prevention of early signs of internalising disorders (i.e., shyness, fears and anxiety, depression). It is hypothesised that by intervening when children are young with the aim of improving parent-child interaction patterns, children will be steered towards a more competent and resilient approach to life. The study consists of three major components. First, we will evaluate the psychometric properties and predictive validity of the best available measures of teachers', parents' and children's' perceptions of the child's adjustment status. Second, we will follow-up the full cohort of preschool children to test which combination of the measures best predicts internalising disorders after 2 years. Third, we will conduct a controlled trial with a sample of the larger cohort to evaluate the effects of a brief parent and teacher training programme on children's adjustment. The major questions of this project are: a) Can we successfully identify children in a community preschool setting and under the age of 6 who are at risk of developing internalizing disorders? b) What assessment measures are the most reliable and valid predictors of the development of internalising disorders in this age group? c) What are the short-term and medium-term effects of a parent and teacher prevention program on children stratified according to risk for internalising disorders?

Funding Amount $AUD 149,363.31

Funding Scheme NHMRC Project Grants

Notes Standard Project Grant