School-Based Treatment for Anxious African-American Adolescents: A Controlled Pilot Study

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a school-based group cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for anxiety disorders with African-American adolescents. Method: Twelve adolescents (mean age = 15.6 years) with anxiety disorders were randomly assigned to CBT (n = 6) or a group attention-support control condition (AS-Control; n = 6). Both groups met for 10 sessions in the same high school. Key treatment ingredients in CBT involved exposure, relaxation, social skills, and cognitive restructuring. Key ingredients in AS-Control involved therapist and peer support. At pre- and posttreatment, diagnostic interviews were conducted, and adolescents completed self-report measures of anxiety. Results: At posttreatment and among those who attended more than one treatment session, 3/4 adolescents in CBT no longer met diagnostic criteria for their primary anxiety disorder, compared with 1/5 in AS-Control. Clinician ratings of impairment and self-report levels of overall anxiety were significantly lower at posttreatment in CBT compared with AS-Control. Teenagers in both groups reported lower levels of social anxiety from pre- to posttreatment. Conclusions: Findings support the feasibility of implementing a manual-based CBT in an urban school setting. Responder rates among African-American adolescents were similar to those found in studies with white youths.