Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) to Ukrainian children and adolescents to self-manage post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 - The first 7 months.

Background: The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 prompted many to provide mental health input, especially trauma management, to Ukrainian children and adolescents (C/A) exposed to it.

Methods: Rapid cascade training of 200 Ukrainian psychologists during 2022 to provide, in pairs, free of charge and without selection, TRT courses of 4-6, 90 min sessions online or face to face to C/A 7 to 23 years in Ukraine and those migrating abroad. CRIES-8 PTSD questionnaires were administered at the beginning and end of the courses during May-December 2022.

Therapist-supported online cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young people: protocol for an early-stage, parallel-group, randomised controlled study (OPTYC trial).

Introduction: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disabling psychiatric condition that affects a significant minority of young people exposed to traumatic events. Effective face-to-face psychological treatments for PTSD exist. However, most young people with PTSD do not receive evidence-based treatment.

Dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions, posttraumatic stress and depression in children and adolescents exposed to trauma: a network analysis.

Background: The latest version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) proposes a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis reduced to its core symptoms within the symptom clusters re-experiencing, avoidance and hyperarousal. Since children and adolescents often show a variety of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the aftermath of traumatic events, the question arises whether such a conceptualization of the PTSD diagnosis is supported in children and adolescents. Furthermore, although dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs) appear to play an important role in the development and persistence of PTSD in children and adolescents, their function within diagnostic frameworks requires clarification.

Children and natural disasters.

The number of children affected by natural disasters each year is alarmingly high and can be expected to rise as climate change continues. The mental consequences have been documented not only in the rates of post-traumatic stress symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder, but also for depression and other mental health problems. To contribute towards the knowledge in this area, this special issue of the focuses on how children can be prepared for natural disasters and the mental health aspects of such events.

Mental health of unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents previously held in British detention centres.

Aim: To investigate whether the mental health of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) was negatively affected by having their ages disputed and being detained.

Method: Participants within this cross-sectional study were 35 UASC, aged between 13 and 17 when they were detained. Some years later, a team of child mental health professionals interviewed them to assess their current mental health and to determine, as far as possible, the impact that having their age disputed and being detained may have had on their mental health.

The impact of fathers' military deployment on child adjustment. The support needs of primary school children and their families separated during active military service: A pilot study.

Background: Although direct exposure to war-related trauma negatively impacts children's psychological well-being, little is known about this impact within the context of parental military deployment to a combat zone and 'indirect' experience of the effects of armed conflict. This study investigates the impact of father's military deployment to Afghanistan on child well-being in primary schoolchildren and compares measures of adjustment with a matched group of children with fathers deployed on military training (non-combat) deployment.

Method: Data were collected within primary schools in 2011-2012 from 52 children aged 8-11 years with fathers deploying to Afghanistan ( n = 26) and fathers deploying on military training ( n = 26) via self-completion of questionnaires assessing symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress and levels of self-esteem.

Pilot Study of a Group-Based Psychosocial Trauma Recovery Program in Secure Accommodation in Scotland.

The current study is the first to implement and evaluate a group-based trauma-specific program for adolescents in a secure accommodation facility in Scotland. A randomized control and qualitative pilot study compared an intervention group ( = 10), who received Teaching Recovery Techniques, to a waitlist control group ( = 7). Measures included subjective units of disturbance (SUDs), standardized trauma symptom questionnaires, and analysis of behavior monitoring logs.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Young Children 3 Years Posttrauma: Prevalence and Longitudinal Predictors.

Objective: Age-appropriate criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young children have been established. The present study investigated the long-term course of such PTSD and its predictors in young children.

Methods: Young children (aged 2-10 years) and parents/caregivers who had attended emergency departments after motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) between May 2004 and November 2005 were assessed at 2 to 4 weeks and 6 months post-MVC; 71 families were re-interviewed 3 years post-MVC.

The latent structure of Acute Stress Disorder symptoms in trauma-exposed children and adolescents.

Background: The revision of Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) in the DSM-5 (DSM-5, 2013) proposes a cluster-free model of ASD symptoms in both adults and youth. Published evaluations of competing models of ASD clustering in youth have rarely been examined.

Methods: We used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (combined with multigroup invariance tests) to explore the latent structure of ASD symptoms in a trauma-exposed sample of children and young people (N = 594).

Culture-sensitive psychotraumatology.

Background: Although there is some evidence of the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) construct's cross cultural validity, trauma-related disorders may vary across cultures, and the same may be true for treatments that address such conditions. Experienced therapists tailor psychotherapy to each patient's particular situation, to the nature of the patient's psychopathology, to the stage of therapy, and so on. In addition, culture-sensitive psychotherapists try to understand how culture enhances the meaning of their patient's life history, the cultural components of their illness and help-seeking behaviors, as well as their expectations with regard to treatment.

Measurement Issues: Measurement of posttraumatic stress disorder in children and young people - lessons from research and practice.

Background: Many young people are exposed to traumatic events and a significant minority of these individuals will go on to experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Valid and reliable measurement tools for assessing PTSD are essential and can aid screening, clinical diagnosis, treatment planning and outcome monitoring.

Methods: This article outlines the range of instruments available for these aspects of measurement, including assessment of PTSD in very young children, with a focus on those scales with good clinical utility and sound psychometric properties.

Computerised CBT for depressed adolescents: Randomised controlled trial.

Background: Depression in adolescents is a common and impairing problem. Effective psychological therapies for depression are not accessed by most adolescents. Computerised therapy offers huge potential for improving access to treatment.

Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Trajectories in Parents of Children Exposed to Motor Vehicle Collisions.

Objective: Following child trauma, parents are at risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), either owing to their direct involvement or from hearing of their child's involvement. Despite the potential impact of a parent's development of PTSD on both the parent and child, little is known about what may place a parent at increased risk.

Method: PTSD symptoms were assessed ≤ 4 weeks, 6 months, and 3 years post-trauma, along with a range of potential risk factors, in a sample of parents of 2-10-year-old children who were involved in a motor vehicle collision.

Thought control strategies and rumination in youth with acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder following single-event trauma.

Objective: Certain thought control strategies for managing the intrusive symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are thought to play a key role in its onset and maintenance. Whereas measures exist for the empirical assessment of such thought control strategies in adults, relatively few studies have explored how children and adolescents manage posttraumatic intrusive phenomena.

Methods: In a prospective longitudinal study of 10-16-year-olds with PTSD, who were survivors of road traffic collisions and assaults, a variety of thought control strategies were assessed in the acute phase.

Impact of a stance phase microprocessor-controlled knee prosthesis on level walking in lower functioning individuals with a transfemoral amputation.

Background: For individuals with transfemoral amputation, walking with a prosthesis presents challenges to stability and increases the demand on the hip of the prosthetic limb. Increasing age or comorbidities magnify these challenges. Computerized prosthetic knee joints improve stability and efficiency of gait, but are seldom prescribed for less physically capable walkers who may benefit from them.

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity in bereaved Afghan adolescents.

This study investigated the effect of bereavement (father death due to war in Afghanistan) on autobiographical memory specificity in Afghan adolescents living in Iran. Participants consisted of bereaved (n=70) and non-bereaved (n=33) Afghan adolescents. The measures included Farsi versions of the Autobiographical Memory Test, Mood and Feeling Questionnaire, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Impact of Event Scale.

The Child PTSD Symptom Scale: an update and replication of its psychometric properties.

The psychometric properties of the child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS) were examined in 2 samples. Sample 1 (N = 185, ages 6-17 years) consisted of children recruited from hospitals after accidental injury, assault, and road traffic trauma, and assessed 6 months posttrauma. Sample 2 (N = 68, ages 6-17 years) comprised treatment-seeking children who had experienced diverse traumas.

Children and war: the work of the Children and War Foundation.

The Children and War Foundation was established after the authors' experiences following the civil war in former Yugoslavia in the mid-1990s. Many organizations tried to mitigate the effects of the war on children but few interventions were based on evidence and fewer were properly evaluated. The Foundation was established in Norway with the aim of promoting better evidence-based interventions to help children after wars and natural disasters.

Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents.

Purpose Of Review: We review recent evidence regarding risk factors for childhood posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and treatment outcome studies from 2010 to 2012 including dissemination studies, early intervention studies and studies involving preschool children.

Recent Findings: Recent large-scale epidemiological surveys confirm that PTSD occurs in a minority of children and young people exposed to trauma. Detailed follow-up studies of trauma-exposed young people have investigated factors that distinguish those who develop a chronic PTSD from those who do not, with recent studies highlighting the importance of cognitive (thoughts, beliefs and memories) and social factors.

Efficacy of writing for recovery on traumatic grief symptoms of Afghani refugee bereaved adolescents: a randomized control trial.

Effective evidence-based intervention for traumatic bereavement is one of the current major research issues in the field of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents. The "Writing for Recovery" group intervention is a new treatment approach developed by the Children and War Foundation for traumatized and bereaved children and adolescents after disasters. The purpose of this project was an empirical examination of this intervention with 12- to 18-year-old war bereaved Afghani refugees.

Intrusive memories and depression following recent non-traumatic negative life events in adolescents.

Background: Research in adults suggests that intrusive memories are not just found in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet there is little evidence concerning the phenomenology of intrusive memories in children and adolescents. The present study investigated the frequency of intrusive memories following a recent negative event in an adolescent school sample, and considered the application of cognitive theory to understanding the maintenance of intrusive memories of recent negative events, and their role in maintaining depression.

Methods: High school students (aged 11-18 years; n=231) completed questionnaires concerning affect experienced during a recent negative event, the frequency of subsequent intrusive memories, memory quality, thought suppression, post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms.

Impact of stance phase microprocessor-controlled knee prosthesis on ramp negotiation and community walking function in K2 level transfemoral amputees.

Background: Microprocessor controlled prosthetic knees (MPK) offer opportunities for improved walking stability and function, but some devices' swing phase features may exceed needs of users with invariable cadence. One MPK offers computerized control of only stance (C-Leg Compact).

Objective: To assess Medicare Functional Classification Level K2 walkers' ramp negotiation performance, function and balance while using a non-MPK (NMPK) compared to the C-Leg Compact.