©2022 Stanford Medicine
Building Resilience at Schools: Emotional and Biological Assessment and Treatment of Traumatic Stress
Not Recruiting
Trial ID: NCT05701111
Purpose
In the last four years alone, residents of Puerto Rico have experienced a slew of natural
disasters including Hurricane Maria in 2017, earthquakes in 2019 and 2020, the continued
COVID-19 pandemic from 2020-2022, and most recently Hurricane Fiona. This series of
distressing events can lead to an increased need for mental health resources and trauma
treatment. Furthermore, the unique single-district structure of the Puerto Rican education
system allows for the efficient dissemination of potential interventions and treatment to all
students.
The purpose of this study is to examine two treatment conditions for educators and
school-aged children in Puerto Rico experiencing burnout, fatigue, and high stress: delivery
of a mindfulness-based educator curriculum and, for children who report Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, delivery of the mindfulness curriculum with the additional
intervention of Cue-Centered Therapy (CCT). The study has two aims: 1) To assess the efficacy
of the mindfulness curriculum and of CCT in a population of students, counselors, and
teachers, characterized by high stress over the last few years of natural disasters and
pandemic challenges and 2) To identify genetic contributions to resilience by analyzing gene
expression in students before and after the intervention.
The overarching goals of the investigators' research collaboration are to improve educators'
psychological well-being and children's socioemotional development when faced with high
stress and adversity and to improve mental health clinicians' competence and confidence in
treating children exposed to trauma by training them in CCT. The investigators' research will
identify critical biopsychosocial components responsible for the cognitive, behavioral, and
emotional improvement and effective implementation strategies in a large but geographically
dispersed school district. The knowledge base that will result from this study will inform
the implementation of trauma-informed care in school settings and with populations
experiencing stress and adversity, and contribute to the investigators' understanding of the
underlying biology of these interventions to provide a rationale for further development and
dissemination.
Official Title
Building Resilience at Schools: Emotional and Biological Assessment and Treatment of Traumatic Stress
Stanford Investigator(s)
Victor G. Carrión
John A. Turner Endowed Professor for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria:
1. Teachers and students at a participating school site, Adults and students/caregivers
willing to participate in the study
2. For Cue Centered Therapy:
1. Youth aged 11-17 with exposure to at least one Diagnostic Statistical Manual
(DSM) 5-defined traumatic event and meeting threshold criteria for posttraumatic
symptoms per the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) PTSD scale.
2. Willingness to participate in therapy
3. Caregiver willing to participate in therapy
4. Perpetrator of the traumatic event is not living in the home with the child
Exclusion Criteria:
1. For the general study and for Cue Centered Therapy:
1. Students doing current trauma-focused interventions with a mental health professional
2. Low cognitive functioning (IQ less than 70)
3. Substance dependence as defined by DSM criteria
4. Autism/Schizophrenia
5. Clinically significant medical illness
Intervention(s):
behavioral: Start with the Heart Students
behavioral: Start with the Heart Teachers
behavioral: Cue Centered Therapy Counselors
behavioral: Cue Centered Therapy Students
genetic: iSWAB-DNA
Not Recruiting
Contact Information
Stanford University
School of Medicine
300 Pasteur Drive
Stanford,
CA
94305
Emily Wu
650-724-6598