Project 466689

Childhood trauma is defined as the exposure to real or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). One of the most common forms is child maltreatment displayed as physical, sexual, and emotional abuse or neglect. Children and youth who have experienced abuse are more likely to use psychiatric and medical services (Stewart et al., 2013) and providing early intervention and treatment can improve mental health outcomes (Baiden et al., 2017; Ford et al., 2010; Waddell et al., 2005). Given the very limited research examining recovery rates of traumatized children (Whitt-Woosley et al., 2018), the proposed study plans to address this gap by exploring mental health treatment outcomes in children and youth who have experienced physical abuse compared to sexual abuse. The proposed study will utilize over 50,000 interRAI Child and Youth Mental Health (ChYMH) assessments collected by trained clinicians in mental health agencies across Canada (Stewart, et al., 2015). Participants will include 4;18-year-old children and youth who are receiving services from mental health agencies, have been assessed pre- and post-treatment using the ChYMH assessment, and have experienced physical or sexual abuse (Stewart, et al., 2015). ChYMH scales and algorithms will be used to assess mental health treatment outcomes. It is hypothesized that traumatized children and youth will have poorer recovery rates, higher levels of behavioural problems, anxiety, depression, suicidality, and socio-emotional difficulties, compared to those without child maltreatment trauma. Due to the potential negative impact of trauma, it is important to further explore the differential impact of specific traumas on treatment outcome (Baiden et al., 2017; Ford et al., 2010).