Citation

Kenardy J, Thompson K, Le Brocque R, Olsson K. Eur. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2008; 17(5): 316-325.

Affiliation

School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, j.kenardy@uq.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00787-007-0673-5

PMID

18350366

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated an early intervention for children and their parents following pediatric accidental injury. METHOD: Information booklets provided to participants within 72 h of the initial trauma detailed common responses to trauma, the common time course of symptoms, and suggestions for minimizing any post-trauma distress. Following admission for traumatic injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents, falls and sporting injuries a total of 103 children (aged 7-15) and their parents were evaluated at pre-intervention, 1 month, and 6 months post-trauma. The intervention (N = 33) was delivered to one of two hospitals, the second hospital was the control (N = 70). RESULTS: Analyses indicated that the intervention reduced child anxiety symptoms at 1-month follow-up and parental posttraumatic intrusion symptoms and overall posttraumatic symptoms at the 6-month follow-up. No other differences between the intervention and control groups were found. CONCLUSION: Overall, the information-based early intervention is simple, cost-effective method of reducing child and parent distress post-trauma.

Language: en