Treatment Outcomes for Adolescents Versus Adults Receiving Cognitive Processing Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder During Community Training

AbstractCognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a gold ‐standard treatment for adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, adolescents may also benefit from CPT, particularly when existing evidence‐based treatments for adolescents are unavailable or not a good fit. In this program evaluation study, a modular version of CPT was deliver ed by community‐based therapists‐in‐training to 32 adolescents (age range: 14–17 years) and 174 adults recruited at their sites (overall sample: 81.1% female, 59.7% White, 31.6% Black, 21.6% Hispanic, 2.9% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 1.9% Asian, and 9.7% other race). The same protocol wa s used for adolescents as adults. Treatment outcomes, including treatment completion status, number of sessions needed, and PTSD and depression symptom change, were compared between groups. In total, 47.1% of adults versus 71.9% of adolescents completed treatment. Among completers, there was no betw een‐group difference in the number of attended sessions,RR = 1.04, 95%CI [0.88, 1.23],p = .576. Overall, in the full intent ‐to‐treat sample (i.e., completers and noncompleters), large symptom reductions were observed for PTSD,b = −3.27,SE = 0.17,p< .001,d = 1.22; and depression,b = −0.82,SE = 0.07,p< .001,d = 0.84. There were no differences in the rate of change for adolescents versus adults regarding PTSD,b = −0.15,SE = 0.48,p = .759; or depression,b = −0.20,SE = 0.14,p = .181. These findings suggest that CPT is a vi...
Source: Journal of Traumatic Stress - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research