The Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders among Japanese Children: A Pilot Study
Open accessAbstract
At present, there is no established cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating emotional disorders in Japanese children. Therefore, we introduced the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children (UP-C) in Japan and adapted it to the Japanese context. We then examined its feasibility and preliminary efficacy using a single-arm pretest, posttest, follow-up design. Seventeen Japanese children aged between 8 and 12 years (female n = 11; male n = 6; M = 10.06 ± 0.97 years) with a principal diagnosis of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, or depressive disorders, and their parents were enrolled in the study. The primary outcome was the overall severity of emotional disorders as assessed by psychiatrists using the Clinical Global Impression-Severity Scale. Secondary outcomes included child- and parent-reported anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and functional status. No severe adverse events were observed. The feasibility was confirmed by the low dropout proportion (11.76%), high attendance proportion (children: 95.6%; parents: 94.6%), and sufficient participant satisfaction. Linear mixed models (LMMs) showed that the overall severity of emotional disorders and child- and parent-reported anxiety symptoms improved from pre-treatment to post-treatment, and that these treatment effects were maintained during the 3-month follow-up period. Additionally, child- and parent-reported functional status improved from pre-treatment to the 3-month follow-up. In contrast, child-reported depressive symptoms improved from pre-treatment to follow-up, but there was no significant change in parent-reported depressive symptoms between pre-treatment and other time points. These findings demonstrate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the Japanese version of the UP-C, suggesting that future randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are warranted (Clinical trial registration: UMIN000026911).
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Feasibility studies in Portugal and Japan confirmed that the UP-C was viable and accepted by Portuguese and Japanese populations.
“feasibility studies have been conducted in Portugal [55] and Japan [56], confirming that the UP-C was viable and accepted by Portuguese and Japanese populations.”
From The Factorial Structure, Psychometric Properties and Sensitivity to Change of the Distress Tolerance Scale for Children with Emotional Disorders. (2024) · cites this paper as [56]
The Discussion reports feasibility and sufficient program satisfaction in the Japanese pilot study, supporting the claim that the UP-C was viable and accepted by its participants. The Limitations section says the sample was small and drawn from one hospital, so the findings do not establish acceptability across the Japanese population. Portugal is attributed to a different citation, not this paper. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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“…has already demonstrated its efficacy in treating children’s emotional disorders within American children and their parents [48], and feasibility studies have been conducted in Portugal [55] and Japan [56], confirming that the UP-C was viable and accepted by Portuguese and Japanese populations.”
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Transdiagnostic Interventions for Youth Internalizing Disorders
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- Authors
- Fujisato, H., Kato, N., Namatame, H., Ito, M., Usami, M., Nomura, T., Ninomiya, S., & Horikoshi, M.
- Affiliations
- National Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Research (JP)
- University of Tsukuba (JP)
- Kohnodai Hospital, National Center for Global Health and Medicine (JP)
- Ochanomizu University (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Fujisato, Hiroko
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2021-11-25
- Volume
- 12
- Pages
- 731819-731819
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8654783
- OpenAlex
- W3217133219
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 0.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JP15K17288, JP18H01096)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Keywords
- Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders, transdiagnostic treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy, childhood anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, childhood depression, Japanese children, cross-cultural adaptation, treatment feasibility, treatment efficacy, functional status, parent-reported symptoms
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