Integrating parents with trauma histories into child trauma treatment: Establishing core components.

To identify core components of parent/caregiver integration into evidence based child trauma treatment models, specifically those parents/caregivers who have experienced trauma themselves. The Parent/Caregiver Trauma and Healing Coordinating Group (PCTHCG) of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network examined existing scholarly literature, gathered input from clinical experts and parent partners, and assessed child trauma treatments. Eleven core components were identified through pooled sources of the available literature, clinical and parent/caregiver partner expertise, and information from existing evidence-based child trauma treatment models. Core components identified: engagement of parent/caregiver, assessment, parenting, coregulation, attachment, relationship repair, support of parent/caregiver, emotional coaching, addressing parent/caregiver trauma history and symptoms, and parent/caregiver appraisal and meaning making. To further validate these core components, the PCTHCG invited child trauma treatment model developers (N = 11) to indicate the presence of these components in their models and describe how their models attend to parent/caregiver trauma.

Subsequently, a Core Components of Trauma Informed Child Treatment Models Related to Parent/Caregiver Trauma Grid (Core Components Grid) was developed. Despite general consensus that it is beneficial, few studies thoroughly explore the impact of parent/caregiver inclusion, specifically those who have experienced trauma, in their child’s trauma treatment. There is a significant need for future studies on the impact and mechanisms of parent/caregiver trauma and the integration into child trauma treatment. The Core Components Grid is intended to move the field forward toward a more structured examination of parent/caregivers who have experienced trauma and their inclusion in their child’s trauma treatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)