NCJ Number
191143
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 40 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2001 Pages: 1261-1267
Date Published
November 2001
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This exploratory study examined the effectiveness of a time-limited group psychotherapy model to reduce traumatic symptoms among adolescent survivors of homicide victims in New Orleans.
Abstract
The participants were 45 inner-city African-American adolescents between ages 11 and 19 who had a loved one die because of violence. The youths took part in community-based, time-limited therapy groups specifically designed for adolescent survivors of homicide. The therapy groups used a 10-week treatment model focused on grief education, facilitating thoughts and feelings about grief, and reducing traumatic symptoms. Results revealed that the adolescents who took part in the group therapy reported an overall significant decrease in traumatic symptoms on an index of posttraumatic stress, especially in the areas of re-experiencing and avoidance symptoms. The average difference between pretest and posttest was a 10.03 decrease in the sum of the Child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Reaction Index scores. Results indicated that group therapy may be helpful in reducing PTSD symptoms among inner-city African-American adolescent survivors of homicide victims. The lack of a comparison group limited the validity of the results, but findings suggested that such a brief trauma/grief psychotherapy group may be applicable for suburban and rural adolescent survivors of homicide victims as well. Tables and 42 references (Author abstract modified)