Award Date

1-1-2006

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Committee Member

Christopher A. Kearney

Number of Pages

186

Abstract

This was the first pilot study to examine the effectiveness of a single-session panic prevention workshop for youth. Participants were recruited using various forms of mass media, advertisements, flyer distribution, and personal contacts. Following a brief screening, participants were assigned to a single-session panic prevention workshop (n = 9) or a waitlist control condition (n = 10). Youth in the workshop group completed pre-workshop assessments including self-report measures of anxiety sensitivity, general anxiety, panic attack symptomatology, and depression. In addition, a semi-structured diagnostic interview was used to assess panic attacks, panic disorder, and agoraphobia Also, during pre-workshop assessment, parents completed measures of anxiety sensitivity, psychopathology, and depression. Following assessment, child-parent dyads participated in the panic prevention workshop. The workshop consisted of approximately five hours of psychoeducation, breathing retraining, cognitive restructuring, and interoceptive exposure. Three months following the workshop, youth completed measures of anxiety sensitivity, general anxiety, and panic attack symptomatology. Youth in the waitlist control group completed measures of anxiety sensitivity, general anxiety, and panic attack symptomatology upon enrollment in the study. Waitlist participants were contacted three months following initial assessment and completed the same measures. Compared to youth in the waitlist group, youth who participated in the prevention workshop were expected to evince greater reductions in anxiety sensitivity, general anxiety, and panic attack symptomatology by three-month follow-up. Youth in the waitlist group were expected to remain the same or worsen with respect to these measures. Overall, workshop participants did not experience a significant reduction in anxiety-related symptomatology. However, trends for the workshop group to report less anxiety sensitivity, clinically significant anxiety, and panic following the workshop were found. Definitive conclusions regarding workshop effectiveness and feasibility cannot be made given methodological and statistical limitations. However, lessons learned from the present study will serve as a foundation for improving the design and execution of future efforts to provide anxiety prevention for youth.

Keywords

Anxiety; At Risk; Brief; Evaluation; Panic; Panic Prevention; Prevention; Program; Program Evaluation; Risk; Youth; Youth

Controlled Subject

Clinical psychology

File Format

pdf

File Size

4229.12 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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Rights

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