Skills for social and academic success: A school-based intervention for social anxiety disorder in adolescents

Paige H. Fisher, Carrie Masia-Warner, Rachel G. Klein

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

61 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper describes Skills for Academic and Social Success (SASS), a cognitive-behavioral, school-based intervention for adolescents with social anxiety disorder. Clinic-based treatment studies for socially anxious youth are reviewed, and a strong rationale for transporting empirically-based interventions into schools, such as SASS, is provided. The SASS program consists of 12, 40-min group sessions that emphasize social skills and in-vivo exposure. In addition to group sessions, students are seen individually at least twice and participate in 4 weekend social events with prosocial peers from their high schools. Meetings with teachers provide information about social anxiety and facilitate classroom exposures for socially anxious participants. Parents attend 2 psychoeducational meetings about social anxiety, its treatment, and approaches for managing their child's anxiety. Initial findings regarding the program's effectiveness are presented. We conclude by discussing the challenges involved in implementing treatment protocols in schools and provide suggestions to address these issues.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)241-249
Number of pages9
JournalClinical Child and Family Psychology Review
Volume7
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2004

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • Behavior therapy
  • School intervention
  • Social anxiety

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