Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents

Many children and adolescents who experience potentially traumatic events, such as natural disasters, acts of violence, physical injuries, child abuse, and life-threatening medical illnesses, display significant stress symptoms. In fact, these potentially traumatic events can lead to the development of acute stress disorder (ASD) and/or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and cause significant psychological impairment. In this chapter, we discuss the types of potentially traumatic events that lead to ASD or PTSD in youth, as well as various aspects of trauma exposure. We next review available evidence on the definition, prevalence, and course of ASD and PTSD in youth, and the risk factors associated with their development. To date, relatively few studies have examined ASD and existing evidence calls into question the validity of dissociative symptoms as part of the existing ASD diagnostic criteria for youth. In contrast, many studies have evaluated PTSD and its symptoms in youth exposed to trauma, although PTSD prevalence rates vary substantially depending on a host of factors, including the type of traumatic event experienced, the degree of exposure to the event, and the informant for PTSD symptoms, among other factors. We also discuss developmental considerations for the ASD and PTSD diagnoses and directions for future research. The chapter closes with a brief summary of proposed changes to the diagnostic criteria for ASD and PTSD in youth that are being considered for the DSM-5

Satisfaction with the Health Care Provider and Regimen Adherence in Minority Youth with Type 1 Diabetes.

To assess whether satisfaction with the health-care provider is related to regimen adherence among primarily minority youth with type 1 diabetes. Youth with type 1 diabetes (n = 169; M age = 13.88; 52 % female; 70 % Hispanic) and their parents completed questionnaires that assessed their own satisfaction with the health-care provider and youths’ adherence to diabetes self-care behaviors. Higher youth and parent patient-provider relationship satisfaction was associated with higher regimen adherence. Gender affected the relationship between satisfaction and regimen adherence, such that for girls, greater satisfaction was associated with better adherence; this was not the case for boys. Patient satisfaction with the health care provider is important for regimen adherence among primarily minority youth with type 1 diabetes, particularly for girls. Future research might focus on improving youths’ relationships with their health care providers as a potential pathway to improve regimen adherence

Supervision of clinical assessment: The Multilevel Assessment Supervision and Training (MAST) approach

Supportive and effective clinical supervision is imperative to the training and development of assessment skills in clinical psychology. This article presents the development of the Multilevel Assessment Supervision and Training approach, a clinic-based method to supervision of assessment. This approach utilizes advanced predoctoral students to serve as peer supervisors for beginning predoctoral trainees conducting psychoeducational assessments. It offers several advantages, providing a peer mentoring supervisory experience during graduate education, improving the training experience and oversight for beginning trainees, and improving service delivery. Satisfaction ratings were collected from graduate trainees and their peer supervisors who support the utility of this approach