The Norwegian Stepped-Care TF-CBT Study

Summary

Every day, a significant number of children and young people in Norway experience violence, abuse, or other potentially traumatizing events. These children are at risk of developing serious health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, and drug dependency. Moreover, when left unaddressed, trauma experiences in childhood can have long-term implications for work- and educational participation as well as later subjection to violence. Provision of accessible and situationally adaptable treatments can therefore have great benefits for children, families, and communities at large.

In this project, the investigators will introduce the method of Stepped-Care Trauma-Focused Behavioral Cognitive Therapy (SC-TF-CBT) in a selection of 15 municipalities across Norway. SC-TF-CBT is a parent-led - therapist-assisted low-threshold method aimed at treating children exposed to abuse, sexual assault, or other trauma and who are at risk of developing more severe trauma-related difficulties (Salloum, et al. 2014). This is the first test of the method outside the US. The project's main aim is therefore to evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of the treatment in a Norwegian context through a pre-post design.

The following questions are to be explored:

1. How does the SC-TF-CBT model fit the Norwegian health care culture and service system?
2. When testing Stepped-Care in a Norwegian context, the model is set to involve both the municipal and specialist service levels. Severe cases will be stepped up/transferred to the specialist level for TF-CBT treatment. How do these transitions work for the participating families, and what are the experiences and perspectives of practitioners and service-leaders regarding coordination and collaboration between service levels?
3. Do the children, parents, and therapists like working with the method?
4. Do recipients of the treatment (children and parents) report symptom improvement?
5. Which children and parents seem to benefit the most from the method, and who do not?

Conditions

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Depressive Symptoms
• Parental Stress
• Health Related Quality of Life

Interventions

OTHER

Stepped-Care TF-CBT

SC-TF-CBT will be administered to children meeting the inclusion criteria of the study. The treatment aims to improve daily function for trauma-exposed children and their families by way of stress-mastery exercises, coping skills and gradual exposure.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of South Florida

  collaborator OTHER

• Norwegian Center for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ingeborg Skjærvø, PhD · Norwegian Center for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-05-13

Primary Completion

2022-03-15

Completion

2022-08-31

Countries

• Norway

Study Locations