Posttraumatic cognitions in young children

暴露于潜在创伤性事故（如道路交通事故和烧伤）的儿童有出现精神健康问题的风险，包括创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）。根据创伤后应激障碍的认知模型，暴露于此类经历的儿童可能具有功能失调或功能性创伤后认知，这要么导致进一步的精神病理，要么帮助他们应对创伤。迄今为止，意外创伤后创伤认知的调查仅限于6岁以上的儿童。然而，创伤后认知也可能是年幼儿童创伤恢复的重要因素。本研究的目的是首次研究3 - 6岁儿童在潜在创伤性事故后的功能失调和创伤后认知与心理健康的关系。此外，本研究还将探讨儿童与父母创伤后认知以及父母急性应激反应之间的关系。计划中的研究是使用电子激活记录仪（EAR）的创新项目的后续，以评估严重伤害后自发的日常亲子交流的自然观察。采用适应性编码推理和定性分析，优化研究策略，以评估3 - 6岁儿童的创伤后认知。由于对幼儿的评估困难，广泛的数据收集将包括a)日常对话的EAR记录，b)父母报告问卷，以及c)对严重受伤后到澳大利亚墨尔本皇家儿童医院就诊的儿童及其父母进行定性访谈。我将编码并统计分析N = 48个儿童的大约14,000个音频片段（每30秒）；最初的EAR项目已经提供了13名儿童的大约4,000个片段。此外，我将在半结构化的深度访谈中对35名儿童和他们的一位父母（总N = 70）进行定性评估功能失调和功能性创伤后认知。访谈将基于扎根理论进行归纳分析。该项目的研究结果将为与年龄相适应的功能失调和创伤后认知的评估以及目前针对幼儿的创伤后应激障碍诊断标准的调整带来有价值的见解。研究结果也可能对干预措施产生重要影响，这些干预措施旨在解决暴露于潜在创伤事故的幼儿的功能失调和加强功能性创伤后认知。

Children exposed to potentially traumatic accidents - like road traffic accidents and burn injuries - are at risk for mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to cognitive models of PTSD, children exposed to such experiences could have dysfunctional or functional posttraumatic cognitions that either lead to further psychopathology, or help them cope with trauma. To date, investigations of posttraumatic cognitions following accidental trauma have been restricted to children above age 6. However, posttraumatic cognitions could be important factors for trauma recovery in younger children as well. The aim of the proposed study is to examine for the first time dysfunctional as well as functional posttraumatic cognitions associated with mental health following potentially traumatic accidents in children between the ages of 3 and 6 years old. Additionally, the study will examine the relationship between children’s and parents’ posttraumatic cognitions as well as parents’ acute stress reaction. The planned study constitutes a follow-up of the innovative project using the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) to assess naturalistic observation of spontaneous, everyday parent-child communication after serious injuries. The study strategy is optimized to assess posttraumatic cognitions in children between the ages of 3 and 6 years old by using an adapted coding rational and including qualitative analysis. Due to assessment difficulties with young children, the extensive data collection will include a) EAR records of everyday conversations, b) parent-report questionnaires, and c) qualitative interviews with children and their parents who have attended the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia after serious injury. I will code and statistically analyse approximately 14,000 audio snippets (per 30 s) of N = 48 children; about 4,000 snippets of 13 children are already available from the initial EAR project. Furthermore, I will qualitatively assess dysfunctional and functional posttraumatic cognitions in semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 35 children and one of their parents (total N = 70). The interviews will be analysed inductively based on grounded theory. The project findings will bring valuable insights for age-appropriate assessment of dysfunctional and functional posttraumatic cognitions as well as for the adaption of current diagnostic PTSD criteria for young children. The findings may also generate important implications for interventions that aim to address dysfunctional and strengthen functional posttraumatic cognitions in young children exposed to potentially traumatic accidents.