Training child serving professionals to identify and respond effectively to child trauma: Evaluation findings from the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Child Trauma Training Center

Introduction: Childhood trauma is a global healthcare crisis with two thirds of children reporting exposure to traumatic events. Trauma triggers a plethora of negative mental health and functional outcomes during adolescence... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction: Childhood trauma is a global healthcare crisis with two thirds of children reporting exposure to traumatic events. Trauma triggers a plethora of negative mental health and functional outcomes during adolescence and adulthood. Addressing these requires wide dissemination of high quality trauma-informed training for professionals who often are the first contacts and providers of care to this vulnerable population.

Objectives: In 2012, the Child Trauma Training Center (CTTC) was established at the University of Massachusetts Medical School with support from SAMHSA’s National Child Traumatic Stress Network. CTTC aims to provide training to enhance identification, screening and assessment of trauma among front-line child serving professionals.

Methods: In total, CTTC provided 237 separate trainings to child serving professionals including pediatricians and medical professionals, law enforcement, courts, attorneys, schools, child welfare, advocacy groups. For each training, curriculum was adjusted to meet the needs of the specific audience. We used post-evaluation survey design to collect data on training effectiveness in increasing participants’ knowledge and skills related to child trauma.  Within the Police Department (N=388), we utilized a more comprehensive pre-/post-training survey design given the specialized nature of this group.

Results: The CTTC exceeded our original targets, reaching 14,099 professionals. Training significantly boosted providers’ knowledge and skills about child trauma and its impact. Evaluation findings for the Police Department showed that from pre-training (M = 3.14, SD = 1.18) to post-training (M = 3.70, SD = 1.08), they demonstrated a significant increase in their knowledge about how to work with children who experience trauma, (p =.000) and a trend for increased confidence in using trauma-informed practice (t (353) -1.67, p= .096).

Conclusions: Making relevant trauma-informed training more accessible to front-line child professionals served to accelerate the identification and treatment of child trauma, and to improve the health and well-being of those affected by it.