Evaluating Social Skills Training For Youth With Trauma Symptoms In Residential Programs

Objective: Youth who receive services in residential programs have high rates of traumatic exposure and associated symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Little information is available on specific social skills training that could be beneficial for youth in residential programs with PTSD. This study examined changes in behavioral incidents and psychopathology in youth receiving group home services based on training they received across three categories of social skills (i.e., self-advocacy, emotional regulation, problem-solving). Method: The sample included archival data on youth (N = 677) ages 10-18 years (M = 15.7 years, SD = 1.53). Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to examine the frequency of disruptive and self-injurious behaviors over 12 months as it relates to reported traumatic symptoms at admission and the presence of the three types of social skills objectives. Analysis of Covariance was conducted to test whether the social skill objectives differentially predicted changes in youth psychopathology from intake to discharge for youth with low and high trauma symptoms. Results: Youth with high trauma symptoms who received training on problem-solving skills had significantly greater decrease in emotional problems from intake to discharge compared to youth with high trauma symptoms who did not receive problem-solving training (d = -.54). Conclusion: Problem-solving training could be further developed and tested to maximize the support youth with trauma symptoms receive in trauma-informed residential programs.