Group Trauma‐Informed Treatment for Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients: A Preliminary Uncontrolled Trial. Issue 4 (28th July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gudiño, Omar G.; Weis, J. Rebecca; Havens, Jennifer F.; Biggs, Emily A.; Diamond, Ursula N.; Marr, Mollie; Jackson, Christie; Cloitre, Marylene
• Is Part Of: Journal of traumatic stress. Volume 27:Issue 4(2014)
• Page Start: 496
• Page End: 500
• Publication Date: 2014-07-28
• Subjects: Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Periodicals; 616.8521
• DOI: 10.1002/jts.21928
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0894-9867

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Despite high rates of trauma exposure (46%‐96%) and significant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 21%–29%) symptoms in adolescent psychiatric inpatients, there is a dearth of research on effective interventions delivered in inpatient settings. The current report describes the development of Brief STAIR‐A, a repeatable 3‐module version of skills training in affective and interpersonal regulation (STAIR) developed for adolescents in inpatient care. An uncontrolled design was used to conduct a preliminary examination of the group intervention's effectiveness. Adolescent psychiatric inpatients (<italic>N</italic> = 38; ages 12 years–17 years) admitted to a public hospital participated in Brief STAIR‐A and attended a median of 6 sessions (range 3–36). They completed measures of PTSD and depressive symptom severity, coping skill use, and coping efficacy upon admission and again prior to discharge. Participants reported significant reductions in symptom severity (<italic>d</italic> = 0.65–0.67), no change in the absolute level of coping skills used (<italic>d</italic> = 0.16), but greater coping efficacy when discharged from care (<italic>d</italic> = 0.75). Results from this pilot study suggest that this brief group treatment shows promise for treating adolescents' trauma‐related difficulties in inpatient psychiatry settings, but additional research examining its effectiveness is essential.</p> </abstract>