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Outcomes of Care
Child Trauma Services
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Outcomes of Children Served by the
Children Who Witness Violence Program.
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An article published in Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry is the first "comprehensive description of the impact of recent violence and mental health service needs of children based on child and parent reports using standardized measures gathered at the time of the incident of violence" (p. 189).
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Drotar, D., Flannery, D., Day, E., Friedman, S., Creeden, R., Gartland, H., McDavid, L., Tame, C., & McTaggart, M.J. (2003). Identifying and responding to the mental health service needs of children who have experienced violence: A community-based approach. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 8 (2), 187-204.
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Steven M. Friedman, Ph.D., Executive Director of MHS, and Program Manager Rosemary Creeden were among the article's authors. They worked alongside key community leaders to create Cuyahoga County’s Children Who Witness Violence (CWWV) program. The article was published in April 2003, and describes MHS services for 1,739 children who were referred by police officers in 1999 and 2000. These children had witnessed domestic violence, or other violent incidents.
Witnessing violence had a significant psychological impact on many of the children. Most children believed that they and their parent had little control over the violent event, and most children believed the violence would happen again. Prior research findings have repeatedly shown that perceptions of vulnerability and helplessness lead to psychological distress and substantial functional impairment.
The analyses also showed that MHS began face-to-face services with 68% of families within two hours of the referral by police officers. Some families asked that MHS begin services on the next day. The majority of children referred to the program participated. Study authors conclude that the project demonstrated "the feasibility of developing mental health services to meet the needs of children who are exposed to violence, especially family violence, at a critical time following violence exposure" p. 187).
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Abstract
Children's experience of violence, their psychological response to it, and their participation in community-based interventions were described. This article describes the provision of mental health services and the process evaluation for the initial phase of the program (1999-2000).
A large number (N = 1,739) of children were referred to the program over a 17.5-month period for mental health intervention immediately after witnessing and experiencing a range of violent acts, the majority of which (N = 1,355) involved domestic violence. A majority of referred children and adolescents (N = 946) directly witnessed such violence, and the majority of those who were old enough to provide self-report indicated that they perceived the event as a direct threat to their safety. Many of these children and adolescents also reported high levels of trauma symptoms. The majority of children (N = 1,117) who were referred to the program participated. The findings underscore the feasibility of developing mental health services to meet the needs of children who are exposed to violence, especially family violence, at a critical time following violence exposure.
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Mental Health Services for Homeless Persons, Inc. (MHS)
1744 Payne Avenue; Cleveland, Ohio 44114 U.S.A.
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It was most recently updated on 4 October 2007.
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