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Step One within Stepped Care Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Young Children: A Pilot Study

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Abstract

This pilot study explored the preliminary efficacy, parent acceptability and economic cost of delivering Step One within Stepped Care Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (SC-TF-CBT). Nine young children ages 3–6 years and their parents participated in SC-TF-CBT. Eighty-three percent (5/6) of the children who completed Step One treatment and 55.6 % (5/9) of the intent-to-treat sample responded to Step One. One case relapsed at post-assessment. Treatment gains were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Generally, parents found Step One to be acceptable and were satisfied with treatment. At 3-month follow-up, the cost per unit improvement for posttraumatic stress symptoms and severity ranged from $27.65 to $131.33 for the responders and from $36.12 to $208.11 for the intent-to-treat sample. Further research on stepped care for young children is warranted to examine if this approach is more efficient, accessible and cost-effective than traditional therapy.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, where the study treatment was provided, particularly David Braughton, President & CEO, Melissa Thompson, MSW, Karen Allen, RMHCI, Angela Claudio Torres, LMHC, Awneet Chandhok, RMFTI, Tia Burr, and Kyra Snyder, and Brittany Kugler, MSW, psychology doctoral student at the University of South Florida. The project was supported by National Institute of Mental Health award R34MH092373 to Dr. Salloum. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of South Florida, 13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MHC 1400, Tampa, FL, 33612-3870, USA

    Alison Salloum

  2. Department of Mental Health Law and Policy and Department of Economics, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    John Robst

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Michael S. Scheeringa

  4. Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Judith A. Cohen

  5. College of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Wei Wang

  6. Departments of Pediatrics, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Tanya K. Murphy & Eric A. Storch

  7. Anxiety Disorders Center, The Institute of Living, Hartford, Connecticut, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    David F. Tolin

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  1. Alison Salloum
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Correspondence to Alison Salloum.

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Salloum, A., Robst, J., Scheeringa, M.S. et al. Step One within Stepped Care Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Young Children: A Pilot Study. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 45, 65–77 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-013-0378-6

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