Kids & Teens Research
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Posted: December 31, 2015
In this pilot study, an investigator from Lehman College of the City University of New York in The Bronx, NY, studied the impact of training children with sickle disease to use brief guided imagery segments to better deal with their pain episodes.
The children were trained with an audio recording of guided imagery messages, which they listened to for 5 to 10 minutes, three times each day, regardless of pain and also during pain episodes.
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Posted: December 09, 2013
Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center conducted a pilot study - a randomized trial - to examine the efficacy of a program called Pay Attention!, with children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Pay Attention! is a training program to teach sustained attention: selective, alternating and divided attention.
After a diagnostic and baseline evaluation, school-aged children with ADHD were randomized to either receive 16 bi-weekly sessions of Pay Attention! (n=54) or assigned to a waitlist control group (n=51).
Participants completed an outcome evaluation approximately 12 weeks after their baseline evaluation.
Results showed significant treatment effects from parent and clinician ratings of ADHD symptoms, as well as the child’s self-reporting of his or her ability to focus, and the parents’ ratings of executive functioning. -
Posted: May 17, 2013
Dutch researchers from Emma Children’s Hospital in Amsterdam reviewed the literature to see if gut-directed hypnotherapy was as effective for children as it is for adults suffering from functional abdominal pain (FAP) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Investigators searched Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for randomized controlled trials (RCT) with child subjects with FAP or IBS. They looked at the efficacy of hypnotherapy on abdominal pain, quality of life, treatment costs and school absenteeism. -
Posted: October 12, 2012
Researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Isfahan in Iran tested the efficacy of the “Writing for Recovery" group intervention for 12-18 year old Afghani refugees, suffering from traumatic bereavement. The program was developed by The Children and War Foundation.
Eighty-eight war bereaved Afghani refugees were screened using the Traumatic Grief Inventory for Children (TGIC). From those with the highest total score, 61 were randomly assigned to either an experimental (n = 29) or control group (n = 32). The experimental group received six sessions of group training on 3 consecutive days in their school. -
Posted: August 30, 2012
Online CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) has already proved effective for alleviating depression in adults. So, researchers from the Trimbos Institute in Utrecht, Netherlands explored whether an online course for depressed adolescents would be efficacious as well.
This randomized, controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of online treatment for depressed young people (ages 16-25) used for the intervention arm an online group course called Grip op Je Dip (Master Your Mood, or MYM).
The investigators randomly assigned 244 young people with depressive symptoms to the online MYM course or to a wait-list control condition. The primary outcome measure was the Center for Epidemiologic Studies’ Depression Scale, administered at 3 months and 6 months post-treatment. Secondary outcomes were anxiety (measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and mastery (Mastery Scale). -
Posted: March 18, 2012
Researchers from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA investigated whether trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) could be effective with very young children, ages 3-6, exposed to heterogeneous types of traumas.
A feasibility study with 11 children was followed by a pilot with 64 children, randomly assigned to either a 12-session manualized TF-CBT protocol or a 12-weeks wait list condition.
In the randomized design the intervention group improved significantly more on symptoms of PTSD, but not on depression, separation anxiety, oppositional defiant, or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders. -
Posted: May 14, 2011
Investigators from the Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health & Leisure in Porto, Portugal conducted a study to analyze the association between blood pressure and (1) body mass index (BMI), (2) degree of physical activity and (3) cardio-respiratory fitness (CRF) in young people.
The study included 66 boys and 97 girls (average age around 14). Measures were taken of blood pressure and cardio-respiratory fitness during the school day, and accelerometers were used to determine degree of physical activity, both during and away from school.
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Posted: January 16, 2011
Researchers from the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa in Canada investigated whether imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT - a simple protocol based on lucid dreaming, using a a sequence similar to EMDR) could be used with children experiencing frequent nightmares.
Eleven boys and 9 girls, ages 9 - 11, with moderate to severe primary nightmares (1 or more per week for 6 months) and without posttraumatic stress disorder, were randomly divided into an imagery rehearsal treatment group (n = 9) or a waiting-list (n = 11) group. -
Posted: April 30, 2010Categories: Surgery, Pain, Kids & Teens, Injuries, Surgery Research, Pain Research, Kids & Teens Research, Injuries, Hot Research
Researchers from the Division of Child Psychiatry at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital evaluated the effectiveness of teaching guided imagery to acutely injured pediatric patients in the PICU, as compared to a one-on-one inquiry about pain-related experiences.
Forty-four hospitalized children and adolescents were assigned to one of two intervention groups, the imagery arm (N = 24) or the inquiry arm (N = 20). Pain was assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale and a 0-10 Likert pain rating scale, while the Pediatric Trauma Score was given to assess the severity of each child's injuries. -
Posted: January 22, 2010
Researchers from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia conducted a systematic review of studies that compare the impact of various techniques on reducing pain and distress in children getting shots for immunization.
The investigators identified randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs that measured the impact of these interventions during the injection of vaccines in children 0 to 18 years of age. Both self-report and observer assessments were used as measures.