Intolerance of Uncertainty in Children and Young People - V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Examining intolerance of uncertainty in children and young people experiencing anxiety
IRAS ID
121096
Contact name
Lisa Hinds-Geen
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust Research and Design
Research summary
Excessive and uncontrollable worry is a feature of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), with worries during childhood being related to GAD during adulthood (e.g. Dugas, Buhr & Ladouceur, 2004; Cohen, Gurley, Brook & Ma, 2005).
Approximately two thirds of adults with GAD have experiences an anxiety disorder between 11 and 20 years (Dugas & Robichaud, 2006) with evidence suggesting that 11-15 years is an important age range for increased worry, although worry is also present in some children aged 8-9 years. Therefore, intervening during this age range could be very beneficial.
The Intolerance of Uncertainty Model (IUM; Dugas et al., 1998) is a model for understanding worry with four main components; Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU), possible beliefs abour worry, cognitive avoidance, and poor problem orientation. There is good support for the model with adults (e.g. Buhr & Dugas, 2002). Intolerance of Uncertainty is a biased way of thinking that affects how someone notices, understands and responds to uncertain situations. Research shows that IU an be found across a range of anxiety disorders (e.g. Carleton et al., 2012; McEvoy & Mahoney, 2012). This study builds on previous research carried out at Newcastle University which has shown that IU is an important feature of worry and anxiety in children aged 7-10 year (Walker, 2009) and young people aged 12-14 years (Riley, 2010; Ford, 2011; Heary, 2012; Wild, 2012) in non-clinical settings. This suggests that IU needs to be taken into account in order to more fully understand anxiety in young people.
Therefore, this research project aims to examine whether IU is present in children and adolescents who are seeking help for anxiety in a clinical setting. Young people and their parents will be invited to complete some questionnaires and an interview to see if IU is present and how it presents on a day-to-day basis.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NE/0235
Date of REC Opinion
29 Aug 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion