Building the framework for ongoing discovery: coding practice elements in child traumatic stress intervention studies

Background: Data re-use and secondary analysis present significant opportunities to advance knowledge in the traumatic stress and psychotherapy research fields and fully realize the contributions of prior research participants. However, to enable meaningful cross-study analyses of intervention studies, systematic approaches to characterizing intervention components are needed.Objective: This paper describes the development of a comprehensive framework for categorizing practice elements in child traumatic stress interventions, designed as part of the Child Trauma Prevention and Treatment (CTPT) Data Archive project.Method: Through review of existing literature, expert consultation, and systematic refinement, we developed a framework for categorizing practice elements in child traumatic stress interventions.Results: We identified 54 practice elements across five categories targeting the child, parent/family, elements addressing any intervention participant, the broader context, and process elements. This framework enables researchers to describe child traumatic stress interventions at a granular level, facilitating novel analyses examining specific intervention components across nominally distinct intervention models. Application of this framework to active arms within multiple intervention studies demonstrates its utility for characterizing diverse prevention and treatment approaches.Conclusions: This work represents an essential step toward enhancing the value of integrated data resources and advancing evidence-based traumatic stress interventions for children and families.