Effects of Therapy at a Community Based Trauma Therapy Service Treating Child Abuse and Neglect: A Pre-Post Study...

Area of Science:

• Child and Adolescent Psychology
• Trauma Studies
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Children and young people often experience multiple forms of maltreatment and complex family situations.
• Community-based clinics serve vulnerable populations facing challenges like domestic violence and parental substance abuse.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the effectiveness of a hybrid Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT) model.
• To assess treatment outcomes for children and young people with complex trauma in a community setting.

Main Methods:

• A repeated-measures study analyzing 113 pre-post treatment assessments from client records (2017-2020).
• Utilized the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC), Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC), and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed on most clinical scales of the TSCC and TSCYC.
• No differences in improvement rates were found across gender, age, care status, funding, or presence of sexual abuse on the TSCC.

Conclusions:

• Integrating diverse therapeutic approaches with TF-CBT is beneficial for treating complex trauma in children.
• This hybrid model supports effective TF-CBT delivery for challenging populations in community-based services.