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）的儿童有可能出现心理健康问题，包括创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）。根据创伤后应激障碍的认知模型，暴露于这种经历的儿童可能会有功能障碍或功能性创伤后认知，这要么导致进一步的精神病理学，要么帮助他们科普创伤。迄今为止，意外创伤后的创伤后认知研究仅限于6岁以上的儿童。然而，创伤后认知也可能是幼儿创伤恢复的重要因素。拟议的研究的目的是第一次检查功能失调以及功能性创伤后认知与心理健康以下潜在的创伤性事故的儿童年龄在3至6岁之间。此外，本研究将探讨儿童与父母创伤后认知的关系，以及父母的急性应激反应。这项计划中的研究是对创新项目的后续研究，该项目使用电子激活记录器（Electronically Activated Recorder，EAR）评估严重受伤后自发的日常亲子沟通的自然观察。本研究的策略是优化的，以评估创伤后认知在3至6岁之间的儿童使用一个适应的编码合理的，包括定性分析。由于评估幼儿的困难，广泛的数据收集将包括a）日常对话的录音记录，B）家长报告问卷，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家长进行定性访谈。我将编码和统计分析N = 48个孩子的大约14，000个音频片段（每30秒）;从最初的项目中已经可以获得13个孩子的大约4，000个片段。此外，我将定性评估功能失调和功能创伤后认知的半结构化，深入访谈35名儿童和他们的父母之一（总N = 70）。访谈将根据扎根理论进行归纳分析。该项目的研究结果将带来有价值的见解，为功能障碍和功能性创伤后认知的年龄适当的评估，以及为适应目前的诊断PTSD标准的幼儿。这些发现也可能产生重要的影响，干预措施，旨在解决功能障碍和加强功能性创伤后认知暴露于潜在的创伤性事故的幼儿。

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.