Cool Kids Group-CBT in a Spanish Sample of Children and Adolescents with Anxiety Disorders

Aim: Anxiety disorders (AD) are estimated in a 6’5% worldwide childhood and adolescence and produce a negative impact over functioning and life quality. Individual and group Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT) have demonstrated their short and long-term efficacy. Cool Kids (CK) is a 10-session CBT-based group program to be administered to 7-17 aged participants with AD and their parents. CK has demonstrated its efficacy compared to control groups. Our aim was to analyze the effectiveness of CK in a clinical cohort of Spanish children and teens with AD. Methods: : CK was offered to 57 patients with AD and caregivers attended in the Hospital Clínic , Barcelona. The Spence Children Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and the Child Anxiety Life Interference Scale (CALIS), children and parent versions, were administered at pre-treatment and post-treatment. Results: : The results in all global registered measures showed a reduction of the symptoms and their interference in daily functioning, as well as a greater improvement in those participants with more completed sessions. Conclusions: : These results have showed that CK has benefits in reducing the anxiety severity and its interference over individual and family functioning in a Spanish clinical cohort.