When Time is of the Essence: A Rationale for ‘Earlier’ Early Intervention

Abstract

Retrospective reports have consistently demonstrated that many psychiatric disorders have their onset in childhood and adolescence. Childhood onset symptomology typically exhibits a chronic, unremitting course and is related to adverse social, psychological and physical health outcomes. Whilst treatment programs in adulthood aim to reconstruct dysfunctional patterns of behaviors established and maintained over years of experience, early childhood interventions promote healthy beliefs at an age where individuals are more adaptable. This article will provide a rationale for the development and promotion of prevention programs for preschool-aged children by reviewing the prevalence and outcomes of early onset symptomology. This will be followed by an overview of the factors required to develop a framework for prevention programs including risk factors and strengths of preschool-aged children, levels of prevention, and intervention settings. Three commonly utilized treatment approaches will be reviewed prior to the introduction of a proposed model of prevention for working with preschool-aged children. The article concludes with discussion of challenges in prevention research and future directions.

The results of a targeted open trial of the Fun FRIENDS combined with a concurrent parent-based intervention

“…These changes may, in turn, lead to improvements in child psychological functioning. Further, the current findings fit logically with the idea that parent psychopathology, stress, and less adaptive parenting behaviours have been found to be associated with child psychological functioning and with poorer treatment prognosis in child intervention studies (Barrett, Cooper, & Teoh, 2014;Cobham, Dadds, Spence, 1998;Connell & Goodman, 2002;Essau & Sasagawa, 2008;Yap et al, 2014). Overall, it is possible that improvement in parent functioning leads to improvement in child functioning.…”

The Treatment of Anxiety in Young Children: Results of an Open Trial of the Fun FRIENDS Program

“…More specifically, in addition to the focus on the reduction of current anxiety symptomology, the Fun FRIENDS program is unique because it also focuses on the promotion of protective factors, including resilience and wellbeing. This is relevant, as resilience and general wellbeing may be key factors to improving mental health trajectories and maximising the effects of intervention over longer periods of time (Barrett, Cooper, & Teoh, 2014). Further, this program is unique as the first program to be primarily a child-based intervention, and although more research is needed, it appears that direct intervention with children may be an effective strategy for the reduction of anxiety in anxious preschool-aged children.…”

Inhibition of vicariously learned fear in children using positive modeling and prior exposure.

“…It can be used to help children and their families understand how anxiety develops, how it is maintained, and how it is treated, as well as to teach children to recognize emotional and physiological signs of anxiety and develop coping strategies. Psychoeducation is one of the tools used by clinicians to prevent ( Barrett et al, 2014 ) or treat childhood disorders by, for example, correcting threat-related myths and false assumptions about a feared stimulus, as well as catastrophic expectancies ( Davis, Ollendick, & Öst, 2009 ). For example, it can successfully reduce spider fear in 8- to 10-year-olds ( Leutgeb, Schaider, & Schienle, 2012 ).…”

“…That is, studies often convincingly demonstrate that the intervention programs work as a whole but the specific underlying mechanisms of individual prevention methods are not always clearly defined or explored. Preventative interventions typically combine a range of techniques including, for example, psychoeducation and modeling ( Barrett, Cooper & Teoh, 2014 ). However, the effectiveness of the individual constituents, and the mechanisms through which therapeutic change occurs, are often not examined.…”