Can a Healing
Camp Boost
Posttraumatic
Growth among
Children?
Irene Searles McClatchey,
PhD, LCSW
Camp MAGIK/Kennesaw
State University
Resilience
 Resilience
– exhibited by those who do
deal with a trauma without developing
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
symptoms
 Exhibit problem-solving abilities, selfesteem
 Sense of competence
 Focus on the present and the future –
repressing coping style
Posttraumatic Growth (PTG)
 Develop
PTSD or PTSD symptoms
 Grows from the experience:



New appreciation for life
Sees new possibilities
More compassion for others
Posttraumatic Growth, cont.
 The
trauma itself does not create PTG – it
is the struggle these children experience
afterwards to try to understand the
experience and to accept their new
reality that creates PTG
(Norwegian study)
Resilience and PTG in a
Nutshell
 Resilience
lets children who have
experienced traumatic events to adapt
well in spite of the traumatic event
 PTG involves a positive alteration created
by the traumatic event and subsequent
struggles
Sample
 Children
and adolescents ages six-18
 Recruited through the school system
(purposive sample)
 Expected losses included cancer; liver
and respiratory failure; end-stage heart
disease; multi-system failure (35%)
 Sudden or violent losses included murder;
suicide; heart attacks; drowning; car
accidents; and routine surgery (65%)
Sample, cont.
 65
campers were pre-tested using the
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children
(PTGI-C)

Gender:
 Males
49%
 Females 51%

Ethnicities
 White
62%
 African American 35%
 Latino 3%
Sample, cont.

Type of loss
Father 46%
 Mother 26%
 Guardian grandparent 9%
 Sibling 19%


Age
6 – 18
 Mean 11.3 (SD=2.8)


Time since loss
1-48 months
 Mean 12.4 (SD=13.4)

Instrumentation
 Posttraumatic
Growth Inventory for
Children (PTGI-C) developed by Cryder,
Kilmer, Tedeschi, & Calhoun


Self report
Likert scale
 1(Not
at all true for me)
 4 (Very true for me)

Cronbach’s alpha 0.89
Instrumentation, cont.

21 questions, five domains





New possibilities – “I have new things that I like
to do”
Relating to others – “I learned that some people
will be there for me and help me if something
bad happens”
Personal strength – “I learned that I can handle
my problems”
Appreciation for life – “I feel like each day is
important”
Spiritual change – “My spiritual/religious beliefs
are stronger now”
The Intervention

Trauma Informed Care in a Camp Setting





Telling of their stories (exposure)
Coping skills
Relaxation and breathing exercises
Cognitive restructuring
Other Activities




Identification of feelings
Journaling
Art work
Traditional camp activities
Results
 32
campers completed the posttest (49%)
 Paired samples t-test
 Mean pre-test score=57 (SD=22.77)
 Mean posttest score=68.28 (SD=10.28)
 Statistically significant at the .05 level
(p=0.013)
Results, cont.
 Predictors


of PTG using multiple regression:
Objective trauma experience (p<0.01)
Age only if used as a single variable
(p<0.05)
Limitations
 Design
does not control for threats to
internal validity (history, testing,
maturation, dropout)
 External validity – results cannot be
generalized
Implications for Research and
Practice
 Use
of a controlled study
 Larger and more diverse sample
 Provide trauma-informed care to children
bereaved by trauma
References





Brewer, J., & Sparkes, A. C. (2011). Parentally bereaved children
and posttraumatic growth: Insights from an ethnographic study of a
UK childhood bereavement service. Mortality, 16(3), 204-222.
Brown, A. C., Sandler, I., Tein, J., Liu, X., & Haine, R. (2007).
Implications of parental suicide and violent death for promotion of
resilience of parentally-bereaved children. Death Studies, 31(4),
301-335.
Brown, A. C., Sandler, I., Tein, J., Liu, X., & Haine, R. (2007).
Implications of parental suicide and violent death for promotion of
resilience of parentally-bereaved children. Death Studies, 31(4),
301-335.
Cryder, C. H., Kilmer, R. P., Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2006).
An exploratory study of posttraumatic growth in children following
a natural disaster. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 76(1), 6569.
McClatchey, I. S., Barefoot, N. (2014). Can trauma-focused care
improve posttraumatic growth – A pilot study. Under review.