全球智库信息集成服务系统

Key Findings

1. Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) significantly reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress and depression in students exposed to violence.
2. School mental health clinicians successfully delivered the program.
3. The program produced consistent results and was well accepted by students, parents, and teachers.
4. A version of the intervention has been adapted for delivery by regular school staff with no mental health training.
5. A new website that provides online training and support for mental health professionals to deliver CBITS is now accessible, free of charge: http://cbitsprogram.org

Violence is one of our most significant public health issues. Between 20 percent and 50 percent of children in the United States are touched by violence, either as victims or, even more commonly, as witnesses. Even more are exposed to natural disasters, accidents, and traumatic losses. The emotional impact may be profound. Children exposed to violence frequently develop post-traumatic stress symptoms. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, poorer school performance, more days of school absence, and feelings of depression and anxiety. Violence affects all racial, ethnic, and economic groups, but its burden falls disproportionately on poor and minority children — the very children whose mental health needs are least likely to be met by the health care system. School officials are often willing to provide help at school. But these professionals face an important question: What works? Until recently, there was no evidence base for determining the effectiveness of interventions to address these problems.