Provide substantive feedback to at least two other learners. Your feedback might provide suggestions for additional resources, ask questions for clarification, or provide constructive suggestions for refining the learners’ data analysis plans. You write a seperate response to each posting and support your response with at least two references.

 

Peer 1 post

 

The Childhood Anxiety Center will serve and treat children between the ages of 3 and 12 years old who suffer from anxiety disorders. The children involved in the program are those who are between the ages of 3 and 12 who have been diagnosed with specific anxiety disorders. These include generalized, social, and separation anxiety disorders. It will also welcome children with specific phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The program will offer cognitive-behavioral therapy, cognitive-behavioral play therapy, play therapy, and filial therapy.

The questions that will be answered are:

Are there any consistent variations within the program treatment methods for the program participants?

What are the long-term effects on anxiety when using filial therapy as the treatment of choice compared to another therapy?

The quantitative component of this evaluation would be gathered by using structured diagnostic interviews and questionnaires such as the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS; Spence, 1998). The questionnaire will be given before treatment as well as after treatment to the children involved in the evaluation sample. The data will be analyzed by completing an analysis of variance (ANOVA). The participants would be categorized beforehand, based on age, diagnosis, race, and treatment type. Then, the data that is collected from the SCAS and the ANOVA could be represented visually on a graph and inferential statistics will be analyzed.

The qualitative components of the evaluation will come from observation (of children that are younger or not developmentally able to complete interviews or questionnaires) and open-ended interviews. Qualitative data does not always fall into place easily (Guthrie, 2010). Observations for this program can be presented in a chronological order and it can then be systematically analyzed to decipher observations, which should be kept apart from commentary or interpretation (Guthrie, 2010). The open-ended interviews can be transcribed and put together with the observation pieces into tables and graphs. This will aide in recognizing key features and patterns in the program.

References

Guthrie, G. (2010) Basic Research Methods. SAGE Publications. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Spence, S. H. (1998). A measure of anxiety symptoms among children. Behavior

Research and Therapy, 36 , 545-566.  

 

 

Peer 2 post

 

 

Population, Clinical area of Concern, and Clinical Intervention to be Evaluated

The population and clinical area of concern will include clients 18 years and older that meet the criteria for (300.29) Specific Phobia (SP) with any specifier (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The population will include any gender, ethnicity, and race. Sliding scale is offered for those with economic hardship. The program offers: individual counseling; assessments; and group therapy. The program specializes in: systematic desensitization; cognitive behavior therapy; exposure therapy; virtual reality; medication; and follow-up.

The overall evaluation question is: Does the Oregon Anxiety and Panic Treatment Center need to revamp its follow-up program for SP? This is pertinent as the success of the program relies on its ability to help the client’s in the long-term not have the phobia disrupt their daily routines, ability to work, and ability to have a relationship and/or social life. Currently the center does not have a streamlined follow-up program. The individual counselors schedule with the clients that request follow-up. In order to determine if the program should have a formal curriculum based follow-up program for clients that relapse we would want to know if it would be utilized by the clients and if what the center currently offers is fulfilling the needs of the clients.

Data Analysis Procedures

Quantitative analysis. The data collection strategy for the quantitative component of the study includes the use of enter/exit interviews; questionnaires (closed questions); and inventory scales taken before/after treatment. The data would be analyzed using a computer software program such as SPSS software. However, first the data needs to be organized then coded/input into the analysis software program. The data would need to be checked for errors and accuracy. Next, the data would be categorized. Descriptive statistics would use the data provided to describe the demographics and clinical variables of the participants such as age, gender, marital status, employment, specific phobia, and frequency of panic attacks. These results will be reported by numerical calculations or graphs or tables. The Inferential statistics would be used to try to deduce or conclude from the data what the participants might think of the program and the improvements it may need (Kit Hui, Ng, Pau, & Yip, 2011).

Qualitative analysis. The data collection strategy for the qualitative component of the study includes the use of interviews, participant observation diaries, and other documents. Semi-structured interviews would use a theme with rather specific questions. First, the interviews and diaries would be transcribed. Then this data would be analyzed using a thematic approach (based on grounded theory) and sorted into line-by-line coding (single ideas). This would get further sorted into subcategories; which leads to a central theme. Reliability of the categories and subcategories can be done by using an independent rater that does not have prior knowledge of the topic. The qualitative results will be reported in the language of the informant (Kit Hui, Ng, Pau, & Yip, 2011).

 

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.dsm05

Kit Hui, L., Ng, R. M. K., Pau, L., & Yip, K. C. (2011). Relationship of cognitions and symptoms of agoraphobia in Hong Kong Chinese: A combined quantitative and qualitative study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 58(2), 153-165. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764010387550