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Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice Systems: A Systematic Review of Definitions and Core Components

Branson, Christopher Edward; Baetz, Carly Lyn; Horwitz, Sarah McCue; Hoagwood, Kimberly Eaton
OBJECTIVE: The U.S. Department of Justice has called for the creation of trauma-informed juvenile justice systems in order to combat the negative impact of trauma on youth offenders and frontline staff. Definitions of trauma-informed care have been proposed for various service systems, yet there is not currently a widely accepted definition for juvenile justice. The current systematic review examined published definitions of a trauma-informed juvenile justice system in an effort to identify the most commonly named core elements and specific interventions or policies. METHOD: A systematic literature search was conducted in 10 databases to identify publications that defined trauma-informed care or recommended specific practices or policies for the juvenile justice system. RESULTS: We reviewed 950 unique records, of which 10 met criteria for inclusion. The 10 publications included 71 different recommended interventions or policies that reflected 10 core domains of trauma-informed practice. We found 8 specific practice or policy recommendations with relative consensus, including staff training on trauma and trauma-specific treatment, while most recommendations were included in 2 or less definitions. CONCLUSION: The extant literature offers relative consensus around the core domains of a trauma-informed juvenile justice system, but much less agreement on the specific practices and policies. A logical next step is a review of the empirical research to determine which practices or policies produce positive impacts on outcomes for youth, staff, and the broader agency environment, which will help refine the core definitional elements that comprise a unified theory of trauma-informed practice for juvenile justice. (PsycINFO Database Record
PMCID:5664165
PMID: 28165266
ISSN: 1942-969x
CID: 2426292

Developmental Patterns of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Current Symptoms and Impairment in Youth Referred For Trauma-Specific Services

Grasso, Damion J; Dierkhising, Carly B; Branson, Christopher E; Ford, Julian D; Lee, Robert
By the time children reach adolescence, most have experienced at least one type of severe adversity and many have been exposed to multiple types. However, whether patterns of adverse childhood experiences are consistent or change across developmental epochs in childhood is not known. Retrospective reports of adverse potentially traumatic childhood experiences in 3 distinct developmental epochs (early childhood, 0- to 5-years-old; middle childhood, 6- to 12-years-old; and adolescence, 13- to 18-years-old) were obtained from adolescents (N = 3485) referred to providers in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) for trauma-focused assessment and treatment. Results from latent class analysis (LCA) revealed increasingly complex patterns of adverse/traumatic experiences in middle childhood and adolescence compared to early childhood. Depending upon the specific developmental epoch assessed, different patterns of adverse/traumatic experiences were associated with gender and with adolescent psychopathology (e.g., internalizing/externalizing behavior problems), and juvenile justice involvement. A multiply exposed subgroup that had severe problems in adolescence was evident in each of the 3 epochs, but their specific types of adverse/traumatic experiences differed depending upon the developmental epoch. Implications for research and clinical practice are identified.
PMID: 26438634
ISSN: 1573-2835
CID: 2472782

Text message reminders to improve outpatient therapy attendance among adolescents: a pilot study

Branson, Christopher E; Clemmey, Philip; Mukherjee, Preetika
High rates of missed appointments and attrition are common barriers to treatment for adolescents attending outpatient mental health treatment. Such figures indicate a need for innovative strategies to engage youth in treatment. The current quasi-experimental pilot study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of text message (TM) appointment reminders to improve attendance in a sample of 48 adolescents attending outpatient therapy. The sample was approximately 46% Latino and 40% African American with an equal number of males and females. Adolescents receiving TM reminders demonstrated significantly higher rates of attendance (65%) than a historical control group (49%) (p < .05). Participants in the TM group received reminders for the majority (88%) of their scheduled sessions with only 4% of reminders not received due to phone-related problems. Additionally, TM reminders received high patient satisfaction ratings. Findings from the present study suggest that TM reminders may be a cost-effective and developmentally appropriate strategy for engaging adolescents in treatment.
PMID: 23937089
ISSN: 1541-1559
CID: 1314532

Integrating adolescent substance abuse treatment with HIV services: evidence-based models and baseline descriptions

Murphy, Bridget S; Branson, Christopher E; Francis, Judith; Vaughn, Gretchen Chase; Greene, Alison; Kingwood, Nancy; Adjei, Gifty Ampadu
Adolescents with substance use disorders are at high risk for contracting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Adolescence is the period of sexual maturation that compounds the issues associated with infection transmission for this risk-taking group. Integrated treatment models for implementing HIV education, counseling, and testing is a promising approach. This study describes four substance abuse treatment programs of varying levels of care that integrated HIV services for adolescents. Additionally, the evidence-based substance abuse treatment and HIV models are discussed and the baseline characteristics presented. The authors provide a discussion and offer recommendations for service implementation and additional research.
PMID: 25490999
ISSN: 1543-3722
CID: 2472792

The effectiveness of PTSD treatment for adolescents in the juvenile justice system: A systematic review

Baetz, Carly Lyn; Branson, Christopher Edward; Weinberger, Emily; Rose, Raquel E; Petkova, Eva; Horwitz, Sarah McCue; Hoagwood, Kimberly Eaton
OBJECTIVE:The objective of this study was to systematically review existing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of trauma-specific treatment for justice-involved adolescents and evaluate the impact of the interventions on the reduction of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, co-occurring mental health symptoms, and juvenile justice-related outcomes. METHOD/METHODS:A systematic literature search was conducted using a four-step process. Studies were included if they used a manualized, trauma-specific treatment with at least one control or comparison group and a sample comprised exclusively of justice-involved adolescents. RESULTS:In total, 1,699 unique records were identified, and 56 full-text articles were reviewed, of which 7 met the criteria for inclusion. Trauma-specific interventions led to a decrease in PTSD symptoms compared with a control group in four of seven studies, and two studies also demonstrated a reduction in trauma-related depressive symptoms. Finally, juvenile justice-related outcomes were measured in only four studies, with one study finding moderately reduced rates of delinquent behavior and recidivism following trauma-specific treatment. CONCLUSIONS:The results from this systematic review suggest that trauma-specific treatment interventions have promising effects for justice-involved adolescents. However, the results reveal a dearth of quality intervention research for treating youths with histories of trauma in the justice system. Significant gaps in the literature are highlighted, and suggestions for future directions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
PMID: 34410809
ISSN: 1942-969x
CID: 5069842

Developmental timing of polyvictimization: Continuity, change, and association with adverse outcomes in adolescence

Dierkhising, Carly B; Ford, Julian D; Branson, Christopher; Grasso, Damion J; Lee, Robert
Children who experience polyvictimization (i.e., exposure to multiple and varied traumatic stressors) are at heightened risk for psychopathology. While polyvictims generally have worse outcomes than those with fewer types of traumatic experiences, not all polyvictims experience significant, or similar, impairment suggesting that polyvictims are a heterogeneous group. This variation in outcomes among polyvictimized children, may be due to differences in how polyvictimization is operationalized and measured. The current study examines a clinically-referred sample of adolescents (N = 3754) aged 13-18 (M = 15.3, SD = 1.4) to examine whether polyvictimization in early developmental age periods predict polyvictimization in later periods and whether there are differences in severity of adolescent psychopathology based on variations in timing of polyvictimization in childhood and adolescence. Results from latent class analysis (LCA) reveal the greater the number of developmental periods in which adolescents were classified as polyvictims, the greater the severity of PTSD, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems. In addition, there was variation in the relation between developmental timing of polyvictimization and different types of adolescent psychopathology.
PMID: 30049476
ISSN: 1873-7757
CID: 3660122

A pilot study of low-cost contingency management to increase attendance in an adolescent substance abuse program

Branson, Christopher E; Barbuti, Anna Maria; Clemmey, Philip; Herman, Lisa; Bhutia, Phintso
Numerous studies demonstrate the efficacy of contingency management (CM) for improving patient outcomes, yet it is rarely used in treatment settings due to the high cost of implementation. This quasi-experimental study (N = 52) examined the effect of a low-cost "Fishbowl" CM intervention on attendance/retention in an early intervention adolescent substance abuse program. The CM group attended significantly more sessions compared to the control group. Furthermore, the CM intervention costs $3.27 per patient per session. Our findings support the use of low-cost CM to improve adolescent attendance in clinical settings.
PMID: 22332855
ISSN: 1055-0496
CID: 1314542