ABSTRACT
The FRIENDS programme is a prevention and early intervention programme, which teaches children strategies to cope with anxiety and challenging situations. This paper examines the social validity of the German version of the FRIENDS programme using data from a large-scale study on the prevention of anxiety disorders in schoolchildren, which is funded by the Dr. Karl-Wilder Stiftung. In this paper, data of 208 schoolchildren (aged 9 to 12 years) are used. Results show that the children and their parents were highly satisfied with the FRIENDS programme. Childrens attendance and completion of their homework assignments were very high. Both the children and their parents rated relaxation exercises and thinking helpful thoughts as being more useful for the children than other skills. Treatment acceptability correlated significantly with the childrens clinical outcome. The implications of our findings for future research are discussed.
