Effectiveness of a Multidimensional Psychotherapeutic Treatment for Kindergardeners and Preschoolers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Despite the increased vulnerability of very young children when confronted with traumatic experiences, and also the massive impact on their development, this topic has been much neglected in German health care research so far; in fact trauma-related treatments are particularly low. Due to this, we are exploring in this pilot study the evaluation of a standard health care system in the community ("Trauma first") for very young children suffering from the impact of traumatic experiences. Our analysis looks at the effectiveness of a cognitivebehavioural treatment for the age group 2-6 suffering from trauma disorders. A pre-post test design without a control group was carried out.The severity of symptoms of 39 children (age: 2-6 years; 46.2 % female) with traumatic experiences was recorded using disorder-specific diagnostics and broad-spectrum diagnostics before and after the therapy treatment, and was both self-assessed and externally assessed. The results show a significant reduction in children's PTSD symptoms, and internalizing behaviour problems, and some regressive behaviours in the caregiver rating, but not in the education rating. The effect sizes were between Cohen's d = 0.89 and d = 2.71. With regard to externalizing behavior and anxiety symptoms, positive tendencies could be found after treatment, but there was no significant decrease. The present pilot study provides initial indications of the effectiveness of the "Trauma First" care programunder ecologically valid conditions in children between the ages of 2 and 6 years. It serves as a preliminary stage of analyzing the psychotherapeutic effectiveness of traumatherapy treatment in young children, which should be followed up by a randomized-controlled study design.