Clinical trial NCT00136357: Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Kosovar High School Students Using Mind-Body Skills Groups
Official title: Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Kosovar High School Students Using Mind-Body Skills Groups: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stress Disorders, Post-traumatic
Keywords: posttraumatic stress
mind-body techniques
war
adolescents
Lead sponsor: The Center for Mind-Body Medicine
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2005-08-29
Enrollment: 82
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 14
Maximum age (years): 19
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to determine whether the participation in a group program which includes meditation, biofeedback, drawings, autogenic training, genograms, and a variety of movement and breathing techniques will decrease symptoms of posttraumatic stress in high school students.

Detailed description: The objective of this study is to determine whether participation in a group program incorporating mind-body techniques decreases symptoms of posttraumatic stress in adolescents. Students will be screened for posttraumatic stress using the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire and eighty-two qualifying students will be randomly assigned to a 12-session mind-body group program or a wait-list delayed intervention group. The program will be conducted by the teachers at a high school in Kosovo and include meditation, biofeedback, drawings, autogenic training, genograms, and a variety of movement and breathing techniques. Changes in posttraumatic stress symptoms will be measured using the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Students having posttraumatic stress (PTSD) as defined according to a scoring algorithm of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire previously described by the Harvard Refugee Trauma group and used in a Kosovar Albanian population. This definition of PTSD requires a score of 3 or 4, on a Likert scale of 1-4, on at least one of the four of the reexperiencing symptoms (Criterion B), at least 3 of the 7 avoidance and numbing symptoms (Criterion C), and at least 2 of the 5 arousal symptoms (Criterion D) in addition to exposure to a traumatic event (Criterion A).

Exclusion Criteria:

* No specific exclusion criteria. Students having PTSD symptoms as defined above may participate in the study.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Harvard Trauma Questionnaire
timeFrame: Baseline, 12 weeks, 3 months
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Suhareka
country: Former Yugoslavia
facility: Jeta e Re High School
state: Kosovo
Study officials:
affiliation: The Center for Mind-Body Medicine
name: James S Gordon, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Gordon JS, Staples JK, Blyta A, Bytyqi M. Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in postwar Kosovo high school students using mind-body skills groups: a pilot study. J Trauma Stress. 2004 Apr;17(2):143-7. doi: 10.1023/B:JOTS.0000022620.13209.a0.
citation: Gordon JS, Staples JK, Blyta A, Bytyqi M, Wilson AT. Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in postwar Kosovar adolescents using mind-body skills groups: a randomized controlled trial. J Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Sep;69(9):1469-76. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v69n0915. Epub 2008 Aug 1.