RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Experiencing trauma in childhood has been associated with more severe psychopathology and a greater risk of engaging in harmful behavior later in life. Traumatic exposure can also erode a child's self-concept. Negative self-concept has been associated with shame, self-doubt, and helplessness in the face of adverse experiences. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based model for children; however, research on its effectiveness in improving children's self-concept is limited. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of trauma on school-aged children's self-concept and improvements following TF-CBT. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A demographically diverse sample of trauma-exposed school-aged children referred to community-based agencies in Canada and a normative sample of school-aged children randomly selected from the general population in the United States. METHOD: A longitudinal design was used to assess trauma-exposed children's self-reported self-concept using the short-form Tennessee Self-Concept Scale - Second Edition (TSCS:2; Fitts & Warren, 1996) prior to and following TF-CBT. RESULTS: Trauma-exposed children had a significantly more negative mean self-concept compared to that of the normative sample. Improvements following TF-CBT - and not the passage of time alone - were found with gains maintained six months post-therapy. CONCLUSIONS: School-aged children awaiting treatment at community-based agencies are likely to hold clinically concerning negative views of themselves. TF-CBT was effective in significantly improving their self-concept with continued and lasting improvements observed after the therapy had been completed.
RESUMEN
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a widely used treatment model for trauma-exposed children and adolescents (Cohen, Mannarino, & Deblinger, 2006). The Healthy Coping Program (HCP) was a multi-site community based intervention carried out in a diverse Canadian city. A randomized, waitlist-control design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of TF-CBT with trauma-exposed school-aged children (Muller & DiPaolo, 2008). A total of 113 children referred for clinical services and their caregivers completed the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (Briere, 1996) and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (Briere, 2005). Data were collected pre-waitlist, pre-assessment, pre-therapy, post-therapy, and six months after the completion of TF-CBT. The passage of time alone in the absence of clinical services was ineffective in reducing children's posttraumatic symptoms. In contrast, children and caregivers reported significant reductions in children's posttraumatic stress (PTS) following assessment and treatment. The reduction in PTS was maintained at six month follow-up. Findings of the current study support the use of the TF-CBT model in community-based settings in a diverse metropolis. Clinical implications are discussed.
