Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40317759›Full record

Trial reportThe British journal of clinical psychology2026

Using sleep to enhance exposure treatment for anxious children: A pilot study.

Ella L Oar, Ronald M Rapee, Cassie H Lavell, Allison G Harvey, Thomas H Ollendick

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in The British journal of clinical psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Ella L OarLifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2214-0568
Ronald M RapeeLifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Cassie H LavellLifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Allison G HarveyDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.
Thomas H OllendickDepartment of Psychology, Child Study Center, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.

Funding

Macquarie University
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesExposure therapy is a well-established treatment for anxiety disorders in children; however, many young people do not fully respond to treatment. Advances in strategies to enhance extinction learning from exposure therapy are urgently needed. Emerging adult research suggests that sleep could be used to augment exposure therapy outcomes. To the best of our knowledge, the current study is the first published pilot evaluation of the potential benefits of sleep to enhance extinction learning in anxious children.

methodsEighteen children aged 7-12 years (M = 9.11; 38.9% Male) with a primary diagnosis of an anxiety disorder were randomized to either a period of sleep immediately following a single session of exposure (SLEEP group), or a day of wakefulness following exposure (WAKE group).

resultsBoth groups improved on clinician-rated anxiety severity and children's danger severity expectancies from pre-treatment to post-treatment and 1-week follow-up. Child- and parent-rated target symptom fear ratings also improved from pre-treatment to 1-week follow-up. However, there was no evidence that children in the SLEEP group improved significantly more than the WAKE group.

conclusionsThe current pilot study failed to demonstrate an augmentation effect of post-exposure sleep in children. Practical and methodological challenges are reported for consideration in future investigations.

Indexed as

Anxiety DisordersExtinction, PsychologicalImplosive TherapySleepChildFearFemaleHumansMalePilot ProjectsTreatment Outcomeanxietychildexposureextinction learningsleep

Identifiers

PMID40317759
PMCPMC13456415

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.