Evaluating Effectiveness of Dyadic Prolonged Exposure on 2-4 Years Old vs. Toddler-parent Focused Treatment

Summary

Traumatic events have potentially debilitating long-lasting effects on the child's normal development and, therefore, should be effectively treated. Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy has been found to be effective in reducing posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in adults and in adolescents. It has not yet been tested in toddlers.

The purpose of this study is to examine the treatment efficacy of 2 methods of treatment for toddlers with PTSD and their parents. A randomized control trial could examine the efficacy of PE versus dyadic play therapy (TP-CT). Exploration of these questions under more rigorous conditions would help broaden our knowledge about developmentally sensitive treatment tools for this age group.

Our research hypotheses are:

1. PE would more effective than TP-CT in reducing post-traumatic symptoms in toddlers.
2. PE would more effective than TP-CT in reducing post-traumatic symptoms of the toddlers' parents.
3. These results will be preserved in a follow-up of 3-6 months post treatment. Following psychiatric assessment, 100 toddlers will be randomly assigned to PE and TP-CT (50 participants in each group).

Conditions

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Prolonged exposure

The PE treatment includes 12-15 60 minutes' sessions. The 2 main components of the treatment are psychoeducation about common reactions to trauma and in-vivo exposures (gradual exposure to trauma related situations and objects) and repeated recounting of the traumatic memory, Trauma memory recounting and in-vivo exposures are conducted during several successive sessions so the child learns that the exposures themselves pose no real harm to him, indicating that when one confronts what one is afraid of it becomes easier to manage.

BEHAVIORAL

Child-parent Play Therapy

Is consisted of 12-15 weekly 60 minute sessions of parent-child centered therapy it focus on establishing a trusting, empowering, and validating therapeutic relationship. Participants are allowed to choose when, how, and whether or not to address their trauma memory. Therapists provide active listening, empathy,and encouragement to talk about feelings and express belief in the participants ability to cope. In sessions 4 and 8, participants are asked how they feel about their trauma. With this exception, participants direct the sessions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Geha Mental Health Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Association for Children at Risk

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Orit Krispin, Phd · Schneider Children's Medical Center, Israel

• Lilach Rachamim, Phd

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Months

Max Age

66 Months

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-10-31

Primary Completion

2019-09-30

Completion

2019-09-30

Countries

• Israel

Study Locations