Does the therapist matter? Therapist characteristics and their relation to outcome in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy for children and adolescents

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dc.contributor.authorPfeiffer, E., Ormhaug, S. M., Tutus, D., Holt, T., Rosner, R., Wentzel Larsen, T., & Jensen, T. K.
dc.date.accessioned2020-09-03T17:57:54Z
dc.date.available2020-09-03T17:57:54Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractBackground: There is a broad evidence-base for the effectiveness of Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) in treating children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The effect of therapist characteristics on patient symptoms has been neglected in psychotraumatology research and necessitates further investigation. Objective: This study aims to investigate the impact of therapist characteristics (gender, clinical experience and theoretical background) on posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in a heterogeneous and international sample of traumatized children and adolescents. Method: Data from two RCTs on the effectiveness of TF-CBT in Norway and Germany were included, comprising N = 52 therapists (78.8% female) and N = 153 patients (72.3% female). All therapists underwent thorough training and continuous supervision in TF-CBT. The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for Children and Adolescents (CAPS-CA) assessed preand post-treatment served as the outcome variable in a linear mixed-effects model with therapists’ theoretical background, prior clinical experience and gender as independent variables, adjusted for patient gender, measurement time and country. The possibility of an interaction between therapist and patient gender was investigated subsequently. Results: None of the therapist characteristics were significantly related to PTSS. There was no indication of an interaction between patient and therapist gender (p =.878). Conclusion:The lack of evidence for a relationship of therapists’ theoretical orientation and clinical experience with outcome suggests that a wider dissemination of TF-CBT may be warranted. More studies with larger therapist and patient sample sizes and including only community practice are needed.en_US
dc.identifier.citationPfeiffer, E., Ormhaug, S. M., Tutus, D., Holt, T., Rosner, R., Wentzel Larsen, T., & Jensen, T. K. (2020). Does the therapist matter? Therapist characteristics and their relation to outcome in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy for children and adolescents. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1), 1776048.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20008198.2020.1776048
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/4855
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherEuropean Journal of Psychotraumatologyen_US
dc.subjectPTSDen_US
dc.subjecttherapisten_US
dc.subjectchildrenen_US
dc.subjectadolescentsen_US
dc.subjecttrauma focused cognitive behavioral therapyen_US
dc.subjectTF-CBTen_US
dc.subjectresearchen_US
dc.titleDoes the therapist matter? Therapist characteristics and their relation to outcome in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy for children and adolescentsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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