Effectiveness of Usual-Care Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents with School Absenteeism.

Highly-controlled, randomized controlled trials have provided considerable evidence for the efficacy of outpatient cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with school absenteeism and anxiety disorders. However, the effectiveness of outpatient CBT under routine-care conditions for youth with school absenteeism remains unproven. This observational study used file records to analyze the changes under routine CBT in a sample of = 49 clinically referred adolescents aged 11 to 18 years with school absenteeism and mental disorders who were being treated in a university outpatient clinic.