Analysis of data from the recently completed NIH Child Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) study found a manualized behavioral treatment approach strongly superior to psychoeducation/supportive therapy for reducing tic severity in 9-16 year-old youths with TS or other Chronic Tic Disorders. Buoyed by the success of the NIH study, the research group now seeks to extend and disseminate the CBIT treatment through the systematic adaptation of the CBIT protocol for use across a broader range of ages and treatment settings.
The goal of the this project is to develop a downward extension of the CBIT therapist guide and parent workbook for use in 4-8 year old children with chronic tics. The revised CBIT-JR manual/workbook will be pilot tested in five children at each of the three study sites (UCLA, UWM, Weill Cornell) in order to provide initial data regarding treatment feasibility and acceptability as well as our ability to implement the new intervention, along with relevant quality control procedures, consistently across sites. These pilot data will then be used to seek R01 support for a larger controlled multisite trial examining the efficacy of CBIT-JR.
Although arguably more complex than a single-site design, we have opted for a multsite study in order: 1) to take advantage of the established productive collaborative relationship and collective expertise in childhood tic disorders and psychosocial treatment development across our three sites, 2) to collect the proposed feasibility data in a much shorter period of time than otherwise possible, and as noted above 3) to demonstrate the cross-site portability of the treatment - which will be necessary if we are to obtain subsequent funding for a larger-scale efficacy trial.
