The Efficacy of Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy on Treatment of PostTraumatic Stress Disorder among Youth Traumatized by Domestic Violence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55677/IJCSMR/V3I10-03/2023Keywords:
Adolescents, Domestic violence, TFCBT, PTSD.Abstract
Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence- based therapy that was specifically designed for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among victims of sexual abuse. Due to its efficacy and ease of application, researchers have continued to assess its effectiveness in the treatment of PTSD resulting from other varied traumatic experiences.
Objective: This study sought to confirm the efficacy of TF-CBT in reducing PTSD symptoms among adolescents who had undergone various forms of domestic violence. The participants were drawn from two selected mixed sex public day secondary schools in Kajiado County, Kenya.
Method: Purposive sampling was employed to select 93 adolescents (13-18 years) into the study, based on a self-report social demographic questionnaire where they affirmed to having been exposed to various forms of domestic violence. A Quasi-experimental design was applied where respondents from one of the schools (Kerarapon) were assigned to the control group and the other school (Ngong Township) was the experimental group. PTSD was assessed using the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire at baseline, midline, and, endline. The experimental group received a 12-week TF-CBT intervention, for one hour once a week in group format, but no intervention was given to the control group for the 12 weeks. The midline assessment was done after the 12 weeks and an endline assessment was done 3 months post-treatment in both groups. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29 was used for data analysis, utilizing means, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the paired samples t-test.
Results: The comparison of means from baseline, midline to endline showed a marked decline in PTSD symptoms in the experimental group (M= 86.44 to 80.63 and 74.20) but in the control group, the PTSD means continued to increase (M= 77.18 to 79.02 to 79.26). The paired samples ttest indicated a statistically significant decline in symptoms from baseline to endline in the experimental group (p=0.033) but in the control group, no statistically significant change in PTSD symptoms was observed from baseline to endline (p=0.986). Based on the effect sizes in the experimental group, the greatest effect of the intervention was at midline to endline phase (d=.454, 95%CI: .102-.799) showing that participants continued to improve posttreatment. Nevertheless, the effect sizes were not large (˂.5) showing that probably, the ongoing domestic violence could have slowed down treatment effects.
Conclusion: TFCBT was found efficacious in the treatment of PTSD among adolescents who had undergone domestic violence, with continued improvement maintained 3-months post treatment. Ongoing domestic violence nonetheless slowed down the treatment effects.
Recommendation: TFCBT can effectively be used for the treatment of PTSD among adolescents undergoing various forms of domestic violence. However, there is need for additional parental education to create awareness on the impacts of domestic violence which would hopefully improve on parenting practices.
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