Supporting socially anxious children and adolescents :challenges and possibilities

Abstract

This thesis starts with a quantitative investigation into the effectiveness of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) school-based interventions on children and adolescents’ levels of social anxiety. The findings of this systematic review of the literature indicated that CBT interventions might effect a positive reduction in adolescents’ social anxiety on an immediate, post-test intervention basis. However, not enough evidence currently exists to suggest that CBT is effective on a longer-term basis due to studies’ lack of follow-up data and low/medium methodological quality (based on studies’ Weight of Evidence judgments). This thesis includes a bridging document. This document makes a link between the systematic review of the literature and the empirical research study. The bridging document aims to make explicit how I came to shift my research focus from a quantitative systematic review of the literature on CBT towards a small-scale, qualitative exploration into the perceptions of three parents. Parents were invited to reflect upon anxious adolescents’ transitions from compulsory school education into the adult world. The empirical research study details the rationale, design and findings from a small scale study which involved interviewing parents. The interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Three superordinate themes emerged which focussed on: parents’ perceptions of service delivery for anxious adolescents, anxious adolescents’ ability to cope in social situations, and the potential for anxious adolescents to make a fresh start as they transition into adulthood. This empirical work contributes to research into parental perceptions and social anxiety, and the practical implications for Educational Psychology practice are also considered.