ABCT 57th Annual Convention: Cultivating Joy with CBT

The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies will be hosting its 57th Annual Convention this upcoming November from the 16th to the 19th in Seattle, Washington. Four of Dr. Brown’s doctoral students will be attending the convention. See below for the names of the students and a description of their projects:

1. Title: Overcoming barriers to access for children in need of trauma therapy: A process mapping approach

Authors: Maddi Gervasio, M.A., Emilie Paul, B.S., Elissa J. Brown, Ph.D., & Andrea Bergman, Ph.D.

Description: Before barriers to accessing evidence-based therapists can be addressed, it is crucial to understand the process for identifying youth in need of trauma services. This study uses process mapping to capture data from qualitative interviews conducted with community leaders on available resources, needs, and barriers for traumatized youth. A preliminary process map of steps from exhibiting trauma symptoms to being identified for trauma services was then created. Based on coding of interviews, challenges exist at each step. Themes included: the need for training personnel to recognize trauma reactions, limited capacity of counselling personnel/the need for more clinicians, and staff turnover.

2. Title: Are baseline depression and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms associated with the length of Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Authors: Alyssa Williamson, B.A., Tohar Scheininger, M.A., & Elissa J. Brown, Ph.D.

Description: Baseline depression severity was positively associated with number of sessions of TF-CBT for multicultural youth in a community clinic.

3. Title: The relation between baseline anger and treatment outcomes in Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Authors: Nicole Milani, M.A., Elissa J. Brown, Ph.D., William Chaplin, Ph.D., Raymond DiGiuseppe, Ph.D.

Description: At baseline, youth with higher anger scores also have higher PTSD scores. Youth with high baseline anger scores show a slightly higher rate of PTSD symptom change from pre to post-treatment than youth with moderate or low baseline anger scores.

4. Title: Pre-Treatment Resilience as a Predictor of Attrition for Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Authors: Csenge B. Bodi, B.A., Maddi Gervasio, M.A., Tohar Scheininger, M.A., & Elissa J. Brown, Ph.D.

Description: Resilience, defined as the capacity to quickly adapt to and recover from adversity, may help clients undertake challenging parts of treatment and prevent attrition. The poster examined whether the probability of drop out from TF-CBT is affected by levels of resilience pre-treatment.