Date of Award

1-1-2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education, Teaching and Learning Sciences, Child, Family, and School Psychology

First Advisor

Gloria E. Miller, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Karin Dittrick-Nathan

Third Advisor

Antonio Olmos-Gallo

Fourth Advisor

Julie Laser

Keywords

Anxiety, Cognitive behavioral therapy, Conjoint behavioral consultation, Consultation, Coping cat, Math performance

Abstract

Partnering with families, school personnel, and community resources is an important step to supporting the child and family, especially when children might suffer from debilitating anxiety concerns. However, little research examines the impact of anxiety on math performance for young children participating in school-based interventions enhanced by family components. The following research questions were addressed in the study: 1a) Will a young child with elevated levels of anxiety show a decrease in anxiety symptoms with a Cognitive Behavioral framework intervention program for children? 1b) Will anxiety be reduced with the addition of a Conjoint Behavioral Consultation with the family and teacher? 2a) Will a young child show an increase in math performance after participation in a Cognitive Behavioral framework intervention program for children? 2b) Will math performance be increased with the addition of a Conjoint Behavioral Consultation with the family and teacher?

A single-subject staggered baseline across situations intervention study addressed whether the Coping Cat, an evidenced-based child-focused intervention now widely used in schools and clinics to treat childhood anxiety, combined with family and school consultation will decrease elevated anxiety levels and improve math performance in an elementary-aged student. The objective was to support mental health development and math performance with an eight-year-old, female elementary student through a collaborative effort of stakeholders in the student's life. Baseline data was collected with repeated measures of anxiety and math performance, and was compared to two intervention phases: first, a child-focused intervention and second, a family and school consultation. The study tested the theory that the Cognitive Behavioral intervention and Conjoint Behavioral Consultation intervention will influence, positively, the anxiety levels and math performance for an elementary-aged student.

Results indicate that the child participant with elevated levels of anxiety showed a reduction in symptoms with the introduction of a Cognitive Behavioral framework intervention when compared to her baseline data. The participant showed further reduction in symptoms across the school and home settings with the implementation of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation when compared to baseline and the first intervention phase. Math performance began to increase with the introduction of the Cognitive Behavioral intervention, and continued to improve with the implementation of the Conjoint Behavioral Consultation. Findings suggest that consultation should begin immediately when an intervention is implemented in order to enhance outcomes.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Kirsten L. Brown

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

154 p.

Discipline

Educational Psychology, Counseling Psychology, School Counseling

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