Attention Control Training for PTSD in Children

NCT03348540 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 1123267
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 89
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Participants will complete a pre and post training psychological assessment. Participants will be assigned to attention control training or the comparison stimuli computer task in a double-blind randomized control trial design. Both computerized dot probe tasks display two faces on a computer screen, one above the other, followed by a small right or left arrow appearing in the location vacated by one of the faces. Participants are required to respond as quickly as they can by pressing the indicated right or left arrow on their computer keyboard without compromising accuracy. Participants complete 6 training sessions.

Conditions

PTSD

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms from pre to post test

  PTSD self-report questionnaire

  10 minute long administration, given twice to measure change scores from pre and post training approximately 1 month apart

Study Arms (2)

Attention Control Training

EXPERIMENTAL

* 6 sessions in the clinic lasting approximately 10 minutes each. * Each session will consist of 128 presentations of pairs of neutral and threatening stimuli, followed by the presentation of a response cue (right or left arrow to be clicked on a computer keyboard).

Behavioral: Attention Control Training

Comparison Task

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

6 sessions in the clinic of a presumably inactive neutral-neutral stimuli intervention lasting approximately 10 minutes each. • Each session will consist of 128 presentations of pairs of faces, followed by the presentation of a response cue (right or left arrow to be clicked on a computer keyboard).

Behavioral: Comparison Task

Interventions

Attention Control Training BEHAVIORAL

Attention control training teaches participants that the emotional salience of cues (i.e., threatening or neutral) is not related to successful completion of the computerized response task, and thus, teaches participants to ignore irrelevant threat-related contingencies (Badura-Brack et al., 2015).

Attention Control Training

Comparison Task BEHAVIORAL

Neutral- neutral stimuli prior to response task

Comparison Task

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 7 Years - 15 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• significant symptoms of PTSD and qualifying traumatic event

You may not qualify if:

• new traumatic event within one month of beginning the trial

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Creighton University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Creighton Univeristy

Omaha, Nebraska, 68178, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Badura-Brack AS, Naim R, Ryan TJ, Levy O, Abend R, Khanna MM, McDermott TJ, Pine DS, Bar-Haim Y. Effect of Attention Training on Attention Bias Variability and PTSD Symptoms: Randomized Controlled Trials in Israeli and U.S. Combat Veterans. Am J Psychiatry. 2015 Dec;172(12):1233-41. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.14121578. Epub 2015 Jul 24.

  PMID: 26206075 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, CARE PROVIDER
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor of Psychology

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 16, 2017
• First Posted: November 21, 2017
• Study Start: November 20, 2017
• Primary Completion: November 20, 2023
• Study Completion: November 20, 2023
• Last Updated: February 8, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-02

Locations

US (1)