The efficacy and acceptability of exposure therapy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 1 Randomized controlled trials included in the systematic review and meta-analysis

Trial	Type of trauma	Diagnostic criteria	Treatments (number of sessions)	No. randomised	Age range and mean age (years)	Proportion of female (%)	Recruitment	Baseline severity scale	Mean baseline severity (SD)	Treatment Duration, (w)	Follow-up Duration, (m)
Catani 2009, [41]	War and Tsunami	Full PTSD	KIDNET (6) WL (6)	16/15	8–14 (11.9)	45.2%	Sri Lanka	UCLA PTSD Index	37.9 (14.2)	2	6
Foa 2013, [42]	Sexual abuse	Full PTSD and Subclinical PTSD	PE (14) ACG (14)	31/30	13–18 (15.3)	100.0%	Germany	CPSS-I	27.3 (7.4)	14	12
Peltonen 2019, [24]	Mixed^a	Subclinical PTSD	NET (10) TAU (ND)	29/21	9–17 (13.2)	42.0%	Finland	CRIES	38.3 (14.4)	10	3
Rossouw 2018 [43]	Interpersonal trauma	Full PTSD	PE (7–14) ACG (7–14)	31/32	13–18 (15.4)	87.3%	South Africa	CPSS-I	34.5 (8.2)	7–14	6
Ruf 2010, [44]	Mixed^b	Full PTSD	KIDNET (8) WL (8)	13/13	7–16 (11.5)	46.2%	Multiple^c	UCLA PTSD Index	43.3 (12.3)	4	6
Schauer 2008, [45]	Mixed^d	Full PTSD	NET (6) ACG (6)	25/22	11–14 (13.1)	61.7%	Sri Lanka	CAPS-CA	63.2 (17.7)	20	13

Abbreviations: PE = Prolonged Exposure Therapy, NET = Narrative Exposure Therapy, KIDNET = Narrative Exposure Therapy for children, ACG = Active Treatment Group, WL = waiting list, TAU = treat as usual, UCLA PTSD Index = University of California, Los Angeles Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index, CPSS-I = Child PTSD Symptom Scale-Interview, CRIES = The Children’s Revised Impact of Events Scale, CAPS = Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, NA = Not Available, w = week, m = month
^a Refugeedom (war), Family violence
^b Children had experienced an average of four different traumatic event types, mostly prior to leaving their country of origin. Violent attacks against their parents or other family members at home were the most common
^c Turkey (Kurdish) /Balkan/ Syria/ Chechnya/ Russia/Georgia/ Germany (Balkan)
^dAccording to the classification of researchers, more than 16 types of trauma were included. Such as natural disasters, traffic accidents, sexual assault, etc.

ISSN: 1471-244X