Profiling anxiety in adolescents and adults with Williams Syndrome

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Anxiety and Mood Disorders in Adults with Williams Syndrome: identifying frequency, type, causes and potential interventions.

• IRAS ID

  167043

• Contact name

  Chris Oliver

• Contact email

  c.oliver@bham.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Birmingham

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 10 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Although anxiety and mood disorders are highly prevalent in Williams Syndrome (WS), there is a paucity of in-depth understanding regarding the triggers and potential causes of these issues, as well as limited treatment and intervention strategies. This project (funded by the Williams Syndrome Foundation and the charity Cerebra) will carry out a detailed investigation of existing mood and anxiety problems in individuals with a genetically confirmed diagnosis of WS. This project will also investigate similar issues in other intellectually disabled populations in order to serve as a comparison to the WS group and to provide further understanding of the profile of anxiety in these groups.

  This research is comprised of three stages. The first two stages already have ethical approval and we would like to seek approval for the third stage.

  1. Semi-structured interviews with parents about anxiety

  2. Parent online questionnaires to look at factors associated with anxiety

  3. Clinical assessments (including self-reports, informant reports, experimental tasks, mood diaries and saliva collection) - seeking full ethical approval.

  This research study is led by Professor Oliver at the Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Birmingham and Professor Patricia Howlin at Kings College London. In this research study we have three core aims:

  1. To explore the frequency and nature of anxiety and mood problems in individuals with Williams Syndrome/comparison group from early adolescence through to adulthood
  2. To identify environmental and individual variables which may be correlates of anxiety
  3. To investigate individual variables possibly related to intervention effectiveness

• REC name

  West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  16/WM/0004

• Date of REC Opinion

  11 Mar 2016

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion