School-Based Interventions

School-based interventions have the potential to be generalizable because, during school hours, children are naturally exposed to challenging situations, and the school staff can help the children to cope adaptively with those difficulties as they arise (Mychailyszyn, Brodman, Read, & Kendall, 2012). These interventions can be well accepted by families and the community in general, as they offer accessible support to children in a natural environment, decreasing the likelihood of stigma developing and increasing opportunities for positive interactions between families and school staff (Beehler, Birman, & Campbell, 2012).
In a randomised clinical trial involving 133 children with anxiety disorders, Liber et al. (2008) found no significant difference
in terms of the measured outcomes between individual and group delivery of the FRIENDS for Life intervention. Additional advantages of group-based CBT interventions, as described by the authors, include the ability of participants to engage with one another in order to normalise each other’s feelings, to engage in peer modelling and to support each other.