Internet-delivered Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents With Autism and Anxiety: Development and Evaluation of Learning to Understand and Navigate Anxiety-Adolescent
Anxiety is very common in autistic youth. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the recommended treatment for both autistic and typically-developing (TD) youth with anxiety, yet most families cannot access CBT due to cost, practicalities of attending in-person treatment sessions, and a shortage of trained providers, especially in rural areas. The goal of this project is to increase access to care for families of autistic adolescents with anxiety through an internet-based treatment model.
• The child is between the age of 11-17 years old at enrollment.
• The child is diagnosed with autism using a validated assessment (e.g., Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition (ADOS-2), Childhood Autism Rating Scale-Second Edition (CARS-2), etc.).
• The child has current, clinically significant anxiety and/or OCD as indicated by a clinician-administered standardized assessment (e.g. Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Children and Adolescents (MINI-KID) and Pediatric Rating Anxiety Scale modified for autism (PARS-ASD)).
• Anxiety disorder is the child's primary/co-primary psychiatric diagnosis, and if secondary psychopathology is present, it will not interfere with treatment.
• One parent/guardian over the age of 18 is able and willing to participate in assessment and treatment (e.g. has sufficient English/Spanish fluency, the decisional capacity to participate, and can commit to treatment duration).
• The child is able to communicate verbally.
• Participants are located in Texas.
• The participant has an IQ above 69, based on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test-Second Edition (KBIT-2), another valid test or clinician judgement (e.g., a previous assessment conducted, and report shared with study team)