Citation

Charuvastra A, Goldfarb E, Petkova E, Cloitre M. J. Trauma. Stress 2010; 23(4): 500-503.

Affiliation

NYU Medical Center and Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jts.20546

PMID

20690193

Abstract

To provide effective treatments for childhood posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) children with PTSD must first be identified. The authors implemented a "screen and treat" program following a widely witnessed school suicide. Three months after the suicide, exposed students received the Child Trauma Symptom Questionnaire at school. Parents received the questionnaire to rate their children's PTSD symptoms. Children with scores >/=5 received follow-up interviews and those diagnosed with PTSD were referred for treatment. Ninety-six percent of exposed students were screened, 14% screened positive, and 6% had PTSD. Child and parent agreement was generally poor. All children with PTSD were successfully referred to treatment. Screen and treat programs using existing clinical instruments are efficient and acceptable for use in school settings following trauma.

Language: en