No abstract

Recent studies highlight the role of attention (i.e., executive attention and joint attention) in the negative association between children’s externalizing behavior problems (EBPs) and self-regulation. In music therapy improvisation, “Motifs” represent a repeated and meaningful use of freely improvised or structured music. They have been reported to be effective in drawing attention toward joint musical engagement. This study aimed to examine the effects of clinically derived motifs on the attention of a child with EBPs. Video microanalysis of four therapy sessions was employed. Interaction segments with/without motifs were then selected for analysis: (a) Executive attention measurement: a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine the effects of Motifs (Factor I) across sessions (Factor II) on the duration of interaction segments. (b) Joint attention measurement: another two-way ANOVA investigated the effects of these two factors on the duration of joint attentive responses in each segment. Results showed that (a) the segments with Motifs tended to decrease in duration throughout the sessions, while (b) these segments showed a significant increase in proportions of joint attentional responses. These findings suggest a positive effect of Motifs on enhancing efficiency of joint attention execution over time, indicating the child’s recognition of the Motifs through learning.

Psychosis is one of the most disabling psychiatric disorders. Paediatric traumatic brain injury (pTBI) has been cited as a developmental risk factor for psychosis, however this association has never been assessed meta-analytically. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between pTBI and subsequent psychotic disorders/symptoms was performed. The study was pre-registered (CRD42022360772), adopting random-effects model to estimate meta-analytic odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using the Sidik-Jonkman method. Subgroup (study location, study design, outcome type, assessment type, and adult verses adolescent onset) and meta-regression (quality of evidence) analyses were also performed. The robustness of findings was assessed through sensitivity analyses. The meta-analysis is available online as a computational notebook with an open dataset. We identified 10 relevant studies and eight were included in the meta-analysis. Based on a pooled sample size of 479,686, it was found that the pooled OR for the association between pTBI and psychosis outcomes was 1.88 (95% CI [1.07, 3.30]). There were no subgroup effects and no outliers identified. The association remained robust after removal of studies with low quality of evidence, however the OR reduced to 1.45 (95% CI [1.02, 2.07]). A leave-one-out sensitivity analysis showed the pooled association changed from marginally significant to marginally non-significant after removal of any one of three studies. In conclusion, we report cautious meta-analytic evidence for a positive association between pTBI and future psychosis. New evidence will be key in determining long-term reliability of this finding.

Objective: To determine the internal consistency, construct validity, and scaling properties of the traditional Chinese version of the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths-Trauma Comprehensive (TC-CANS-Trauma). Methods: 66 male and 62 female children, adolescents, and young adults aged 3 to 22 years who were referred to trauma treatment service were selected by convenience sampling. The original English version of the CANS-Trauma was translated to traditional Chinese by a medical professional, back-translated to English by a clinical psychologist, and then cross-checked by another psychologist to ensure consistency. Chinese wordings were adjusted to maintain the conceptual rather than literal meaning. Participants were assessed using the TC-CANS-Trauma as well as the traditional Chinese version of the Life Events Checklist (LEC), the Children's Impact of Event Scale-Revised (CHIES-R), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Impact Component (SDQ-Impact), and the Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC). Internal consistency of eight primary domains of the TC-CANS-Trauma was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha. Construct (convergent and divergent) validity of five of these domains with the LEC, the CHIES-R, the SDQ-Impact, and the PSOC was assessed. Rasch modelling was used to evaluate the scaling properties of the eight primary domains of the TC-CANS-Trauma. Results: Internal consistency of the eight primary domains of the TC-CANS-Trauma was satisfactory, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.63 to 0.90. Construct (convergent and divergent) validity of five of these domains with the LEC, the CHIES-R, the SDQ-Impact, and the PSOC was good. In Rasch modelling, most TC-CANS-Trauma domains showed good item separation values. Infit and outfit statistics of most domain items were <2 indicating good item fitness in their respective domains. For person separation, all domains of the TC-CANS-Trauma did not have a sufficient discriminability to identify high and low performers. Conclusions:The TC-CANS-Trauma is valid for comprehensive assessment of trauma-related domains among Hong Kong children and adolescents. Its ratings can be used to guide the levels of clinical intervention required. Clinicians are recommended to implement the TC-CANS-Trauma to facilitate trauma-informed practice in Hong Kong.