What do we do when the kids arent alright
By: News archive
Parents and teachers often don’t know the recommended treatments for children exposed to trauma – according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
A new study published today shows that teachers and parents are good at recognising possible traumas faced by children and teenagers.
But they lack a vital understanding of the recommended treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The team say that this knowledge gap should be addressed urgently – because PTSD, when properly treated, usually leads to a good recovery.
The research team hope their findings will be useful in helping youngsters access support for their trauma more quickly. Not least because recent events in the world – such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine – mean that many more children have been exposed to trauma.
Child trauma expert Prof Richard Meiser-Stedman, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “Many children experience potentially traumatic events during childhood and adolescence. While many children recover naturally, a significant number do not and go on to be diagnosed with PTSD.
“PTSD can be a serious mental health condition and it needs treatment. The good news is that treatment usually leads to good outcomes for the child.
“In our view, what is necessary for children to access the right treatment would be for key adults in their life to recognise trauma responses and seek help. This relies on both an understanding of trauma and knowing how to help.
“We wanted to find out how much those key adults – parents and teachers – really understand about trauma and recommended treatments for PTSD.”
The research team worked with schools and parents in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. 310 teachers and 487 parents took part in an online survey which listed trauma events, symptoms and treatments.
Each list contained real (actual) and fake (distractor) items and the participants were asked to identify which ones they thought were real, based on international published classification systems. Knowledge scores were calculated for each person in the study.
Dr Aaron Burgess said: “We asked parents questions about trauma symptoms, what events could lead to trauma responses and also, what the treatments for PTSD are.
“We found that parents and teachers were good at identifying trauma symptoms and trauma events, so they had a broad understanding of what trauma is.
“They also identified some things that clinicians and researchers would not class as trauma related. For example, family divorce leading to PTSD or drug and alcohol abuse as a symptom of PTSD.
“This shows that they had a broad understanding of trauma that included other aspects of mental wellbeing.
“However, their understanding of recommended treatments for PTSD was generally poor for both teachers and parents.
“This is important to address because children who have been through trauma really need key adults in their life to help them access treatment.
“We also found that most parents and teachers agreed with mental health and PTSD screening in schools, particularly if a major incident had occurred within the local community,” he added.
While the project was carried out pre-Covid, the team say their findings have implications for how children are helped through the aftermath of the pandemic.
Dr Burgess said: “It is possible that some children and young people will have trauma responses to the difficult past couple of years. So, our research into whether teachers and parents can recognise a young person who may be struggling with trauma is important in the current climate.
“Understanding and recognising trauma in children is also very pertinent to the war in Ukraine,” he added. “With many child refugees coming to the UK and starting school here, I hope that there will be a real drive to support teachers to understand the help these children will need.”
‘Parents’ and teachers’ knowledge of trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in children and adolescents and their agreement towards screening’ is published in the journal Child and Youth Care Forum.
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