Trauma Focus
Is there a correlation between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and in their parents?
Trauma Focus aims to develop a better understanding of symptoms that can occur following traumatic experiences within families. For instance, while some parents suffer symptoms due to their own experiences, other parents may suffer symptoms due to trauma experienced by their child. Is there a correlation between the symptoms experienced by children and by their parents?
Background
The Trauma Focus research study aims to discover more about families in which a child has experienced one or more traumatic events. Some parents will have experienced traumatic events themselves too, while other parents may never have had distressing experiences. And while some parents suffer symptoms due to their own experiences, other parents may suffer symptoms due to the trauma experienced by their child. By researching any correlation between the symptoms of children and their parents following traumatic experiences, we hope to speed up recognition of the problems and improve treatment. Traumatic experiences can have a major negative impact on the day-to-day wellbeing of children and their families, and they often lead to long-term problems. Early recognition and effective treatment can deliver significant benefits, for families themselves and also for wider society.
The research study
The research study involves the collection of data from 66 adolescents aged between 8 and 18 years, together with one of their parents. For parents, the study comprises an interview about the traumatic events and the child’s potential symptoms, as well as completion of questionnaires about themselves. These questions relate to symptoms caused by traumatic events potentially experienced by the parent him/herself, traumatic events potentially shared by the parent and the child, and traumatic events experienced by the child. Parents then complete two short questionnaires about how they cope with emotions and symptoms of depression. Young people are invited for an interview about symptoms that can arise after experiencing traumatic events. This interview will often have been conducted previously (during treatment) and the adolescent will only have to give permission to use their anonymised data in the research study.
By collecting this information from a large group of adolescents and their parents, we hope to improve our understanding of any correlation between the symptoms experienced by children and their parents.
Collaboration
This research is in collaboration with Ineke Wessel of the University of Groningen and Lotte Hendriks of ProPersona.