Group trauma-informed treatment for adolescent psychiatric inpatients: a preliminary uncontrolled trial

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 (N = 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 (d = 0.65-0.67), no change in the absolute level of coping skills used (d = 0.16), but greater coping efficacy when discharged from care (d = 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.