Stepped Care for Young Children After Trauma

University of South Florida

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 2; Phase 1

Conditions: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Standard TF-CBT; Behavioral: Stepped Care TF-CBT

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01603563

1R34MH092373-01A1

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of this R34 study is to develop and test the feasibility of a Stepped Care intervention for young children with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Phase I will focus on developing and testing the feasibility of Stepped Care Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (SC-TF-CBT) in a small open trial (N=10). Phase II will consist of a randomized controlled trial (N=54) examining the efficacy of SC-TF-CBT relative to standard Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)on a number of outcome measures, treatment acceptability and satisfaction, and costs of treatment delivery. Findings from this pilot study will establish the feasibility and preliminary efficacy (see Kraemer et al., 2006) of SC-TF-CBT before progressing to a larger, randomized R01 to examine the effectiveness of SC-TF-CBT for early childhood PTSD.

Full description

Young children who are exposed to traumatic events such as abuse, disasters, accidents, illnesses, injury and the death of a person close to them are at risk for developing PTSD. While effective treatments for childhood PTSD exist, novel interventions that are more accessible, efficient, and cost-effective are needed to improve access to evidence-based treatment. The purpose of this study is to develop and test the feasibility of an intervention called Stepped Care Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which has the potential to greatly improve service delivery approaches to make treatment more accessible and less costly, thereby reducing childhood PTSD and related societal impacts and costs.

Enrollment: 63 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 3 to 7 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Child must have experienced at least one traumatic event after the age of 36 months.
2. At least five Postttraumatic stress symptoms with one symptom of reexperiencing or one symptom of avoidance.
3. Child must be between 3 and 7 years of age at the time of enrollment.
4. The parent must be willing and able to participate in the treatment and complete informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

1. Psychosis, mental retardation, autism, or related pervasive developmental disorders in child or any condition that would limit the caregiver's ability to understand CBT and the child's ability to follow instructions.
2. Parent has had substance use disorder within the past 3 months.
3. Child or parent is suicidal (the DIPA will be used to screen for child suicidal ideation and the SCID-RV will be used to screen for parent suicide ideation; assessed by all available information). A delayed entry once the parent or child is stabilized (at least 6 months post suicidal) and not having suicidal ideation will be allowed.
4. Child or parent is not fluent in English.
5. Child is currently taking psychotropic medication and is not on a stable medication regimen for at least 4 weeks prior to admission to the study. If appropriate, a delayed entry will be allowed so that once a child is on a stable dosage the child may be enrolled in the study.
6. Child is receiving trauma-focused psychotherapy when study treatment is provided.
7. Parent or caregiver who would be treatment participant was the perpetrator, or the child was perpetrated by a person who still lives in the home (e.g. mother's boyfriend, sibling).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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63 participants in 2 patient groups

Stepped Care TF-CBT

Experimental group

Description:

Patients will receive step one: 3 (1 hr.) in-office therapist-led sessions over 6 weeks, the parent-child workbook (Stepping Together), scheduled weekly phone meetings (15 minutes), and information from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network website (via web or paper for those without access). Children who do not meet responder status will receive step two: 9 (1 to 1.5 hr.) in-office therapist-directed sessions of TF-CBT over 6 to 8 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Stepped Care TF-CBT

Standard TF-CBT

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients will receive 12 (1 to 1.5 hr.) standard weekly in-office therapist-directed sessions over 12 to 14 weeks (Phase II only). The 2 additional weeks allow for scheduling difficulty. Standard TF-CBT includes child, parent and conjoint parent-child sessions addressing the core trauma treatment components discussed in section a.3 (e.g. stress management, skill building, gradual exposure, \& trauma narrative etc.).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Standard TF-CBT