ArticleChild and adolescent psychiatry and mental health2026
Exploring childhood separation anxiety in resource-limited contexts: a mixed-methods study with children and caregivers.
Article in Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSeparation anxiety (SA) is a common childhood experience that, when persistent, can interfere with development and elevate the risk for future anxiety disorders. However, research on SA in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) remains scarce, especially among rural children with limited access to mental health services. We examined age and gender differences in SA scores among Colombian children from rural, low-income households, alongside caregivers’ experiences and strategies for managing their children’s anxiety.
methodsWe employed a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design in which 202 children (aged 8–12) completed the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) to assess SA and overall anxiety, followed by semi-structured interviews with 12 caregivers of children with high SA scores. Quantitative data were analysed using a 2 × 4 ANOVA (gender × age) and qualitative responses were examined using thematic analysis.
resultsTwelve-year-olds reported higher overall anxiety, with girls showing higher SA than boys at ages 10 and 12. Caregiver accounts echoed elevated separation concerns while describing a broader range of emotional responses, including anger and withdrawal, and highlighting the emotional and practical demands of caring for children with high SA.
conclusionsThese findings highlight the importance of early recognition of anxiety symptoms and preventive support for children experiencing SA and their caregivers. Expanding access to school-based screening and caregiver psychoeducation programmes may support earlier detection and management of childhood anxiety.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.