Tele-SPACE: group parent-based treatment for pediatric anxiety via telemedicine in a public health clinic

Introduction: Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) is an evidence-based treatment for parents of children with anxiety disorders and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Given the many barriers to accessing such evidence-based treatments, we evaluated for the first time the application of group-based SPACE, delivered to parents via telemedicine within a public health outpatient setting. Methods: In this single arm retrospective analysis of routine-care data participants, recruited from a hospital-based anxiety clinic, were mothers (N=50) of fifty children, ages 6.7-18.0 years (mean 11.2 ± 3.1), diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and/or OCD. Parent and child self-report measures assessed the impact of treatment on child anxiety symptoms, parental accommodation, parental anxiety and depression. Treatment feasibility, acceptability and satisfaction were assessed. Results: Post treatment, significant reductions were evident in child self-reported separation anxiety symptoms (p =0.008), mother-reported child anxiety symptoms (p=0.002), maternal accommodation (p=0.006), anxiety (p=0.004) and depressive symptoms (p=0.011). Treatment proved feasible, with completion rates of 77.3%, and participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the telemedicine format. Discussion: This is the first study of group-based SPACE over telemedicine. Results support the utility of this modality for overcoming treatment barriers in public health settings with highly heterogenous populations.