Phase 2 (03/03/98)  of the HAI outcome study on

ATTACKING ANXIETY

Efficacy of treating anxiety disorders through 
a self-care program.

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to summarize the results of a study validating the effectiveness of the ATTACKING ANXIETY TM self-help program marketed by the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety, Inc.

Method

New customers for ATTACKING ANXIETY TM received with their program materials questionnaires designed to gather information on the history of their problem including duration and past treatment as well as their current level of distress.

The study utilized the OQ-45.2 TM as the instrument to measure self-reported distress and change over the course of the program. The OQ-45 (C American Professional Credentialling Services LLC; P.O. Box 346, Sevenson, MD 21153-0346) has been widely used in research on psycotherapy outcomes.

At the time of this writing, a total 150 customers had returned completed questionnaires including at least two administrations of the OQ-45.2. Subjects were assigned to one of four severity levels based on OQ-45 scores at the first administration. The cutoff scores on the OQ-45 for the severity ranges are:

The effectiveness of the program was evaluated by calculating the magnitude of improvement between the first and last administration of the OQ-45.2. The result is reported as effect size (raw score change divided by the standard deviation if the instrument). In order to compare these results to those obtained by patients seeking outpatient treatment, the improvement for each severity range in this study was compared to our normative sample of over 1700 cases receiving outpatient mental health services.

RESULTS

The average intake score on the OQ45.2 for this sample of customers was 60, with a standard deviation of 25. This mean is substantially lower that the mean intake score (80) of patients seeking outpatient treatment. Following are the percentage of cases in each Severity Range for the two samples.

The sample of customers experienced an average of 20 points improvement on the OQ-45.2. The average score for the last administration was 40. This result indicates on average customers who used this product experienced a substantial improvement in symptoms and other quality of life indicators. The average final score on the OQ-45 is comparable to the average score obtained from sample of adults from the community receiving no mental health services.

The following presents a comparison of the effect size for each of the samples broken down by severity range. Because the ATTACKING ANXIETY TM sample had only one case in the severe range, no effect size for ATTACKING ANXIETY TM is reported for this severity range

The over all effect size for the ATTACKING ANXIETY TM program was .8. This compares very favorably with the average effect size on treatment outcomes for Anxiety Disorders reported in the scientific literature. For example, one review of the research literature 1 reported that the average effect size for 100 different studies of nine different treatment methods for anxiety was .53. The effect sizes for each of the severity ranges were substantially greater than those seen in our normative sample of outpatient mental health cases.

Care must be taken not to over interpret these very positive results. The sample in the present study was self selected: individuals who ordered the ATTACKING ANXIETY TM program, completed at least part of the self-help program, and returned completed research questionnaires. Arguable, those who took the trouble to complete and return the research questionnaires had a better experience that those who did not.

Despite the limitations of the study, the results do validate the effectiveness of the program for those sufficiently motivated to use the ATTACKING ANXIETY TM materials and complete the self report questionnaires. For these individuals, this program may represent a cost effective alternative or adjunct to treatment provided by mental health professionals."