Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Sexually Abused Children
Condition: Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
MeSH terms: Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two psychological therapies used
      to treat PTSD in children who have recently been sexually abused: Trauma-Focused Cognitive
      Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) vs Child Centered Therapy (CCT).

      Child sexual abuse is a common experience that has serious mental health consequences,
      including the development of PTSD and other abuse-related problems.

      All children will be assigned randomly (like tossing a coin) to receive either SAS-CBT or NST
      at each of two sites. In addition, the parents and the child will receive individual therapy
      for 12 weeks. The child will be monitored to evaluate his/her response to therapy.
      Assessments will take place before and just following treatment, and then 6 and 12 months
      post-treatment.

      A child may be eligible for this study if he/she:

      Has been sexually abused, is suffering from PTSD as a result of the abuse, and is 8 to 14
      years old.
    

Detailed description: 
      To evaluate the comparative efficacy of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
      vs Child Centered Therapy (CCT) in decreasing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
      (PTSD) following recent sexual abuse.

      Child sexual abuse is a common experience that has serious mental health consequences,
      including the development of PTSD and other abuse-related and general psychopathological
      symptoms.

      Patients are randomly assigned to receive either TF-CBT or CCT at each of two sites, and will
      be provided with 12 weeks of individual therapy for children and parents. Treatment is
      monitored for compliance with the respective treatment models through intensive supervision,
      audiotaping of sessions, rating of sessions with use of adherence checklists, and independent
      blind rating of audiotapes. Treatment outcome is evaluated through the use of several self-,
      parent-, and teacher-report standardized instruments, administered at pre- and
      post-treatment, and follow-up evaluations at 6 and 12 months. The project also assesses
      differential treatment impact by gender and ethnicity, and attempts to evaluate the impact of
      specific components of the treatment process in mediating treatment outcome. Specifically,
      the project evaluates the differential effectiveness of the two treatment modalities in
      improving the subject's abuse-related attributions and perceptions, parenting practices,
      familial adaptability and cohesiveness, parent support, and parental emotional reaction to
      the abuse, and the impact of improving these variables on treatment outcome.
    

Intervention name(s): Trauma-Focused CBT; Child-Centered Therapy
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Structured skills, exposure, trauma-specific interventions; Client-directed supportive interventions
Other intervention name(s): TF-CBT; CCT
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Adolescence; Child; Cognitive Therapy; Comparative Study; Female; Human; Male; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Child Abuse, Sexual; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic -- *therapy; Child Abuse, Sexual -- *psychology