Cool little kids

Dr Leonie Vreeke received a 400.000 euro’s ZonMw grant in the call ‘Knowledge gaps’ to study the (cost)effectiveness and implementation of a preventive intervention for young, anxiety prone children.

Previous studies indicated that there are clear markers to detect toddlers at risk at developing anxiety disorders. A valid and reliable Dutch screening measure is available (the BIQ-SF, Vreeke et al., 2012), however, an preventive intervention is not yet available. A promising early intervention for these anxiety-prone toddlers called ‘Cool Little Kids’ (CLK; Rapee et al., 2005) has been developed in Australia. This brief parenting program provides psycho-education to parents about the nature and development of, and risks for anxiety disorders. Parents are also taught practical ways to reduce child anxiety through graded exposure, contingency management, reduction of overprotective behaviors, and management of their own fears and worries. This new research project aims to evaluate the (cost)effectiveness and implementation of this  intervention in reducing anxiety in Dutch anxiety-prone toddlers.