NCJ Number
232130
Date Published
2007
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This report examines a school-based program that was designed to help children cope with violence.
Abstract
Results of a study examining the effectiveness of a school-based intervention program designed to help students traumatized by violence found that students who participated in the program had significantly less post-traumatic stress symptoms, less depression, and less psychosocial dysfunction. The program, the Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) was developed by a team of professionals from the RAND Corporation, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in order to evaluate the effectiveness of school-based interventions designed to assist children traumatized by violence. Students in the study attended one of two Los Angeles public middle schools in predominantly Latino neighborhoods. A total of 126 students participated in the study, with all participants completing the baseline assessment, 93 percent completing the 3-month follow-up, and 90 percent completing both the 3-month and 6-month follow-ups. The participants were divided into two groups, with one group starting the intervention at the beginning of the year and the second starting the intervention at a later date. Evaluation of the students found that the program significantly helped the students cope with the effects of violence and that they experienced significant mental health improvement. Figures