Redesigning Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Schools

This study is testing two versions of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), a type of talk therapy for children who have experienced trauma. One version is the original TF-CBT, and the other is a redesigned version called School-Adapted TF-CBT (S-TF), which is made to be easier to use in schools. The goal is to see if S-TF is more practical and engaging for both providers and students in a school setting, and if it works as well as the original TF-CBT in helping students with trauma symptoms. The study plans to include 102 participants, including youth aged 7-19 who are receiving or have received school mental health services. Success will be measured by how usable, appropriate, and effective the therapies are over 6 months. The current status of this study is unclear.

Study design
This interventional study plans to enroll 102 participants. It will compare the original TF-CBT with a school-adapted version (S-TF).
What's involved
You would participate in either the original TF-CBT or the S-TF intervention. Your progress would be assessed at the start, 3 months, and 6 months.
Compensation
Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up
Participants will be followed for 6 months after starting the intervention.

AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.

NCT06941428

Systematic Redesign of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

Recruiting
NAAges 7+InterventionalHealth services
University of Washington
~102 participants
Updated 2026-02-27 on ClinicalTrials.gov
What's tested:Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)School-Adapted TF-CBT (S-TF)

At a glance

Recruiting sites
1 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now
RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open
What they're measuring
Change in Usability Scale (IUS) score
Measured over Baseline, 3 months, 6 months
+9 more outcomes measured
Trauma, Psychological
Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders

NCT06941428

Where you'd take part

This study runs at 1 site. They're the same protocol — you choose where, and that choice sets who your contact draft is addressed to.

  • University of Washington

    Seattle, Washingtonstudy coordinator listed

    Recruiting

Sites open and close at different times, so the status above is per site — it can differ from the study's overall status.

  • Aaron Lyon, PhD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · University of Washington

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Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

Providers. Providers will be included if they (a) deliver mental health treatment on school grounds; (b) English speaking.
Students. Youth participants will meet eligibility criteria for this study, including (a) be within the TF-CBT developmental range, ages 7-19; (b) are receiving, or have previously received, school mental health services; and (c) are English speaking.
Providers. Providers will be included if they (a) deliver mental health treatment on school grounds; (b) have not previously received formal training in TF-CBT; and (c) are English speaking
Students. Youth participants will meet eligibility criteria for this study, including (a) be within the TF-CBT developmental range, ages 7-19; (b) have traumatic event exposure (e.g., exposure to violence); (c) demonstrate significant post-traumatic stress symptoms (have a trauma history as defined as a score \>31 on the Child PTSD Symptoms Scale for DSM-V \[CPSS-V\]); and (d) are English speaking.

Exclusion

Providers. Providers will be excluded if they participated in the redesign process for TF-CBT.
Students. Students will be excluded if they (a) have intellectual impairments documented in education or mental health records and (2) are not trauma exposed.
  • Change in Usability Scale (IUS) scoreBaseline, 3 months, 6 months

    Usability will be evaluated with the 10-item Intervention Usability Scale (IUS), which is based closely on the well-validated SUS. Ratings are on a 1 to 5 scale and yield a total score from 0 to 100. Half the items are reverse scored; higher total scores reflect greater usability. The IUS has good inter-item consistency (a = .83) and sensitivity. Research has also demonstrated that the original version of the IUS (the SUS) function similarly, and yields similar scores, for adults and youth as young as 11 years. For youth \<11, we will use an adapted lUS, modeled after an adapted version of the SUS for children as young as 7 years old and demonstrating adequate to good reliability.

  • Change in Participant Responsiveness Scale (PRS) scoreBaseline, 3 months, 6 months

    Engagement will be measured using the Participant Responsiveness Scale (PRS), an adapted version of the 12-item Patient Responsiveness Scale tailored to be developmentally appropriate for children aged 8 and above as well as adults. The PRS measures two factors, Participation and Enthusiasm. The original Patient Responsiveness Scale has demonstrated strong reliability (a = .86) and construct validity.

  • Change in Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM) scoreBaseline, 3 months, 6 months

    The Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM) is a rigorously developed, pragmatic instrument with strong good internal consistency (a = .87) and test-retest reliability (a = .87).

  • Adoption over timeEnd of the individual's study participation period, assessed as the study withdrawal date or 24 months post-enrollment, whichever is first

    Adoption is operationalized as the initiation of a clinician's first TF-CBT or S-TF session at any point during study participation. These data will be collected from an online Toolkit that facilitates tracking of services delivered and has been commonly used for large-scale TF-CBT implementation.

  • Reach over timeEnd of the individual's study participation period, assessed as the study withdrawal date or 24 months post-enrollment, whichever is first

    Reach will be calculated using adoption data as the percentage of clinician's caseloads receiving TF-CBT or S-TF.

  • Change in Child Post-Traumatic Cognitions Inventory (CPTI) scoreBaseline, 3 months, 6 months

    The Child Post-Traumatic Cognitions Inventory (CPTI) is a 25-item measure for youth aged 6-18 that is applicable to a wide range of trauma experiences. Two subscales, (1) Permanent and disturbing change (in response to trauma) and (2) Fragile person in a scary world have been identified. Both subscales have high internal consistency (a = .91 and .87, respectively)and test-retest reliability (r= .78 and .72).

  • Change in Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Child and Adolescent (ERQ-CA) scoreBaseline, 3 months, 6 months

    The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Child and Adolescent (ERQ-CA) is a 10-item instrument that has demonstrated good construct validity, inter-item consistency (a = .73 - .79), and test-retest reliability (r = .69) across multiple studies for children aged 7 - 18 years.

  • Change in Posttraumatic Avoidance Behavior Questionnaire (PABQ) scoreBaseline, 3 months, 6 months

    The Posttraumatic Avoidance Behavior Questionnaire (PABQ) is a 25-item self-report measuring trauma-related avoidance behavior (e.g., avoiding visual trauma reminders, being alone, intimate relationships) on a 4-point Likert scale. The PABQ has good test-retest validity (r = .87 - .78) and convergent validity with PTSD symptom severity (r= .77 - .56).

  • Change in Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen 2 (CAT-2) scoreBaseline, 3 months, 6 months

    The Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen-2 (CATS) is checklist administered as a youth self-report and caregiver report that is based on DSM-5 criteria for PTSD and the items directly map onto criteria B (intrusions, a = .80 and .86), C (avoidance, a = .67 and .68), D (negative alterations in cognitions and mood, a = .85 and .87), and E (hyperarousal, a = .74 and .83). Using a set of 15 items, potentially traumatic events or series of events are identified followed by 20 posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) items if at least one potentially traumatic event is evident. Both the youth self-report (a = .92) and caregiver report (a = .94) demonstrate excellent internal consistency. PTSS items are rated on a scale of 0 (never) to 3 (almost always) followed by 5 psychosocial functioning items (yes/no) related to the PTSS. This will be used to initially identify youth for study participation.

  • Youth Top Problems (YTP) over timeBaseline, 3 months, 6 months

    The Youth Top Problems (YTP) assessment is an assessment in which youth and caregivers are asked to list the problems they were most concerned about. Upon completion of the list, respondents are asked to assign a severity rating for each problem by answering the questions: how big of a problem is this for you? (0 = not at all to 10 = very, very much). Respondents are then asked to identify which of the problems listed: is the biggest problem right now? Which one is the most important to work on?. Then the second and third most important until 3 top problems are identified. The YTP shows excellent concurrence with standardized assessments (Kappa ranging from .78 to .91), while also adding specificity for treatment targets (41% of caregivers-, and 79% of youth-identified top problems were not identified by an item amongst elevated standardized assessment sub-scales).