School‐based intervention for prevention and treatment of elementary‐students' terror‐related distress in Israel: A quasi‐randomized controlled trial

Berger, Rony; Pat‐Horenczyk, Ruth; Gelkopf, Marc

doi:10.1002/jts.20225

Cited by 220 publications

(153 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Although originally developed as a response to disasters, PFA provides a framework that has been applied to other personal adverse experiences such as interpersonal violence and family trauma (57). PFA identifies children and their caregivers immediately after a life stressor and provides information, education, comfort, and support, which results in acceleration of recovery, promotion of mental health, and increased resiliency (58,59). Recently, the World Health Organization published "Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers, " which describes crises ranging from "war to natural disasters, accidents, fires, and interpersonal violence. "…”

Section: Approaches To Reducing the Burden Of Acesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adverse childhood experiences and trauma informed care: the future of health care

et al. 2015

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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are related to shortand long-term negative physical and mental health consequences among children and adults. Studies of the last three decades on ACEs and traumatic stress have emphasized their impact and the importance of preventing and addressing trauma across all service systems utilizing universal systemic approaches. Current developments on the implementation of trauma informed care (TIC) in a variety of service systems call for the surveillance of trauma, resiliency, functional capacity, and health impact of ACEs. Despite such efforts in adult medical care, early identification of childhood trauma in children still remains a significant public health need. This article reviews

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Section: Approaches To Reducing the Burden Of Acesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adverse childhood experiences and trauma informed care: the future of health care

et al. 2015

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“…Considering this, we chose a universal approach that would strengthen resilience as well as reduce tsunami-related distress. Situating the intervention within the school helps to make these services available, feasible and affordable [22] as well as minimizes stigma [23], increases the likelihood of program adherence and provides peer support [24, 25]. Despite the advantages of such an approach, few universal school-based programs were developed for children in the aftermath of disasters [6, 26] or war and terrorism [27,28,29,30] and very few programs provided empirical evidence regarding their efficacy [26, 31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

School-Based Intervention for the Treatment of Tsunami-Related Distress in Children: A Quasi-Randomized Controlled Trial

Berger

Gelkopf²

2009

Psychother Psychosom

129

108

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Background: On December 26, 2004, a tsunami hit the southern coast of Sri Lanka, leaving thousands dead and injured. Previous research has found significant mental health problems among children exposed to major disasters. School-based universal interventions have shown promise in alleviating distress and posttraumatic symptomatology in children and adolescents. This study evaluated the efficacy of a school-based intervention in reducing stress-related symptomatology among Sri Lankan children exposed to the tsunami. Methods: In a quasi-randomized controlled trial 166 elementary school students (ages 9–15) with significant levels of tsunami exposure and previous traumatic background were randomly assigned to a 12-session structured program ‘ERASE Stress Sri Lanka’ (ES-SL) or to a waiting list (WL) religious class control group. Students were assessed 1 week prior and 3 months after the intervention on measures of posttraumatic symptomatology [including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severity of posttraumatic symptomatology], depression, functional problems, somatic problems and hope. Results: This study shows a significant reduction on all outcome variables. PTSD severity, functional problems, somatic complaints, depression and hope scores were all significantly improved in the ES-SL group compared to the WL group. No new cases of PTSD were observed in the experimental group. Conclusion: This study adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting the efficacy of school-based universal approaches in helping children in regions touched by war, terror and disaster and suggests the need to adopt a two-stage approach toward dealing with trauma-exposed students, namely, starting with a universal intervention followed by targeted specialized interventions for those still suffering from posttraumatic distress.

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“…We admit that witnessing a killing of a friend by enemy soldiers may signify specific age-salient pain and cannot be equated by the memory of witnessing artillery. However, majority of the assessed events of Israeli military violence and Palestinian factional fighting is highly severe and can negative impact child development [42].…”

Section: Methodological Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and Mental Health Function of Resilience in Condition of Military Siege and Violence in a Palestinian Community Sample

Abu¹

2015

J Psychiatry

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Aims: The study had two aims: First, we assess the prevalence of resilience based on the person-based classification depicting a balance between the severity of trauma and occurrence of PTSD. Second, we examine the role of resilience characteristics of commitment, control and challenge in protecting children's mental health from negative trauma impacts. Methods:The participants were 386 Palestinian children and adolescents from Gaza (age 13.41+2.96, 52.07% boys and 47.93% girls). The results revealed a 25% prevalence of resilient children, and resilience was more common in well-educated families and children from geographical areas exposed to heavily Israeli shelling and destruction. Children were interviewed by sociodemographic scale, Gaza Traumatic Events Checklist, Child Depression and Anxiety Scale, UCLA PTSD Index for DSM-IV-Adolescent Version, and Resilience Attitude Scale.Results: There were generally no gender differences in the exposure to traumatic events, as all. Neither were there gender differences in the mean number of traumatic events related to Israeli military violence or Palestinian factional fighting. According to the DSM-IV criterion, 12.4% of the children and adolescents reported probable PTSD, and 22.37% filled the two criteria partial PTSD, and 26.7% the one criteria partial PTSD (re-experiencing or avoidance or hyper arousal). More than a third (38.4% of the children did not have PTSD. There were no significant differences between boys and girls in PTSD. For depression and anxiety, boys and girls did not differ in the levels of PTSD, depressive and anxiety symptoms. Also only one marginal gender difference was found concerning resilience characteristics: girls reported more feelings of control than boys. The results revealed that 25.0% of the participants was classified as resilient indicating presence of high exposure to traumatic events and absence of PTSD and 22.2% as traumatized, i.e., presence of both high exposure to trauma and occurrence of PTSD. Of the children 12.7% were classified as vulnerable, and 40.1% were spared of both high trauma and PTSD. As hypothesized, resilience characteristics protected children's mental health from trauma, e.g., military trauma was less associated with PTSD and anxiety among children showing high commitment. Discussion focuses on specific functions of resilience in the context of different kind of traumatic events of war, political and military violence.

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School‐based intervention for prevention and treatment of elementary‐students' terror‐related distress in Israel: A quasi‐randomized controlled trial

Cited by 220 publications

References 33 publications

Adverse childhood experiences and trauma informed care: the future of health care

Adverse childhood experiences and trauma informed care: the future of health care

School-Based Intervention for the Treatment of Tsunami-Related Distress in Children: A Quasi-Randomized Controlled Trial

Prevalence and Mental Health Function of Resilience in Condition of Military Siege and Violence in a Palestinian Community Sample

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