STAR-CAT: Supporting parents and their autistic children through anxiety treatment
Calling for participants until
Participant type
Overview
We are carrying out a study to assess a new treatment for anxiety problems in autistic children. Children who have an autism diagnosis are eligible to take part however children do not need to have had an autism diagnosis to take part.
Summary
What is the study about?
Autistic children have a higher rate of mental health problems than their peers, in particular anxiety. We have treatments that work well for child anxiety problems in non-autistic children, including an online treatment with therapist support.
This treatment has not been delivered to autistic children until now as anxiety in autism often presents differently. We have worked closely with families, clinicians and other autism experts to adapt these treatments for autistic children. To find out if this new treatment also helps treat anxiety problems, we are comparing the new online treatment to the approach that your clinic is currently taking.
What are you trying to find out?
We are carrying out a study to assess a new treatment for anxiety problems in autistic children and children who might be autistic. This treatment involves parents/carers working through content on a website with therapist support (over the phone or on a video call) throughout.
We are comparing this treatment to the usual treatment that is currently being offered to treat anxiety problems in autistic children. The study is taking place across the UK, including in the clinical service that will be delivering your child’s treatment.
During the first 8-months of the study we will confirm whether we are able to recruit participants to take part in STAR-CAT as expected, that we have enough participants completing all of the follow up questionnaires, and that there are no problems with the new treatment or the study procedures before moving on to complete the study.
Who is it for?
We are looking for children and their parents who:
- Have had a diagnosis of autism OR you and the clinical service that you are working with
consider that it is possible that your child would get an autism diagnosis if they were
assessed. - Are between 5 and 12 years old.
- Are about to start treatment for problems with anxiety.
You will be offered one of two treatment options as part of this research. Your family will be randomly allocated to one of these options (i.e. a computer will determine which group you will be in).
We are planning to recruit 650 children (and parent/carers) to participate in the STAR-CAT study and 10-15 therapists to take part in an interview.
What does taking part involve?
Please read the information sheet(s) at the top of this webpage for a detailed description of what taking part will involve.
If your child has not been diagnosed as autistic by a medical professional, then you will be sent a link via email to answer an online questionnaire which focuses on child's developmental history at the beginning to ensure your child is eligible for this study.
Once eligibility has been confirmed, and you complete the consent form for the main study, you will then be emailed another link (within 72 hours) to fill in some online questionnaires.
After completing these questionnaires, the last question will ask whether your child would like to complete some questionnaires relating to how they have been feeling and how anxiety has been affecting their lives.
You will then be randomly allocated to either the online platform with therapist support or treatment as usual. This will happen within 72 hours once all of the questionnaires have been completed, i.e., your questionnaires and your child’s questionnaires (if applicable).
We will invite you and your child (if applicable) to complete some more questionnaires 24 and 48 weeks from now so we can see how things are going. We may send you reminders to complete these questionnaires via email, text, or phone call.
We will also ask some parents and children, and also some of the therapists who have led the online therapy, to take part in an optional interview to tell us a bit more about how they found taking part.
Why is it important?
By taking part, you and your child will be helping us to try to find the best way to treat anxiety problems in autistic children and we will learn a lot from this for the future.
How can I find out more?
You can find out more information about taking part in this study by downloading the key documents at the top of this page. You can also visit the project website here.
If you are interested in taking part in this study, or have questions for the research team, click the button below to email us:
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