Exploring early termination patterns and effectiveness of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy for children in foster care

Madeline Esterer, John S. Carlson, Sarina Roschmann, HaeDong Kim, Amy Cowper, Holly Cranmer-Fosdick, Mary Ludtke and Barry DeCicco

Children and Youth Services Review, 2023, vol. 147, issue C

Abstract: Children in foster care experience trauma at a high rate, resulting in their need for effective and accessible mental health treatments. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) has the potential to significantly improve the functional impairment and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) of children in foster care who fully complete treatment without terminating early. The purpose of this study was to explore child- and setting-level predictors (age, sex assigned at birth, race and ethnicity, treatment setting, and pre-treatment level of post-traumatic stress symptoms) of early termination and multifaceted TF-CBT effectiveness outcomes within a statewide practice initiative (N = 399). Accessibility and completion of TF-CBT within this sample of children in foster care were measured by early termination rates. Older children (7.8% more likely) and those receiving home-based TF-CBT (57.1% more likely) terminated TF-CBT early at significantly higher rates. No differences in treatment completion were found for race and ethnicity, sex assigned at birth, or pre-treatment PTSS. Results support that TF-CBT can improve PTSS and associated functional impairment at a degree that is statistically and clinically significant for children in foster care. Implications of study findings for TF-CBT treatment of foster care youth who are older and receiving home-based care are provided.

Keywords: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Foster care; Attrition; Post-traumatic Stress; Trauma; Children and adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740923000361
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:147:y:2023:i:c:s0190740923000361

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106841

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().