Tennant Ruhamah G, Martin Katie K, Rooney Rosanna, Hassan Sharinaz, Kane Robert T
Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University Perth, WA, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2017 Mar 7;8:291. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00291. eCollection 2017.
Anxiety and depression are common mental health problems experienced by children in Australia. The impact of these internalizing disorders is pervasive, affecting many areas of life. By the time problems have been detected in children they can be severe in nature and harder to treat. Hence, early intervention is of utmost importance. Despite the existence of numerous prevention programs for children, there is limited empirical evidence for a program that has an impact on symptoms of both anxiety and depression. Physical activity and improved motor coordination have been indicated as having positive effects on children's mental health, although the impact of including these in a program targeting internalizing disorders has not been established. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the Feelings and Friends (Year 3) program (FFY3), revised to include activities to build motor-coordination and encourage physical activity. Participants were 24 children from the Perth metropolitan area alongside one of each of their parents. Results indicated significant short-term intervention effects on one of the primary outcome variables; intervention group parents reported significant pre-post improvement in child depressive symptoms, which were maintained at 3-month follow-up (η = 0.10). There were also intervention effects observed for parent-reported separation anxiety (η = 0.10), externalizing symptoms (η = 0.19), and conduct problems (η = 0.16). An additional finding indicated the intervention students reported significant improvement from session one to session two in global distress (η = 0.22). No other significant intervention effects were evident. Findings from this study indicate that FFY3 is a promising intervention to address internalizing and externalizing symptoms in 8-9 year-old children.
焦虑和抑郁是澳大利亚儿童常见的心理健康问题。这些内化性障碍的影响广泛，涉及生活的许多方面。当儿童的问题被发现时，其性质可能已经很严重，且更难治疗。因此，早期干预至关重要。尽管有众多针对儿童的预防项目，但对于一个能同时影响焦虑和抑郁症状的项目，实证证据有限。体育活动和改善运动协调性已被表明对儿童心理健康有积极影响，不过将这些纳入针对内化性障碍的项目中的影响尚未确定。本研究旨在评估修订后的“感受与朋友（三年级）”项目（FFY3）的效果，该项目增加了培养运动协调性和鼓励体育活动的内容。参与者是来自珀斯都会区的24名儿童及其各自的一位家长。结果表明，该干预对其中一个主要结果变量有显著的短期影响；干预组家长报告称，孩子的抑郁症状在干预前后有显著改善，且在3个月随访时仍保持这一改善（η = 0.10）。在家长报告的分离焦虑（η = 0.10）、外化症状（η = 0.19）和行为问题（η = 0.16）方面也观察到了干预效果。另一个发现是，参与干预的学生报告称，从第一节课到第二节课，整体困扰有显著改善（η = 0.22）。没有其他明显的显著干预效果。本研究结果表明，FFY3是一个有前景的干预措施，可解决8至9岁儿童的内化性和外化性症状。
