POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD) IN CHILDREN FOLLOWING ACUTE INJURIES REQUIRING EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE

Unfortunately, one rite of passage of childhood is often serious injury that carries psychological impact along with the obvious physical repercussions. Prior studies have found conflicting results for protective/risk factors, thus this study attempted to explore PTSD in a sample of children ages seven to thirteen years of age with moderate to severe injuries. In this study (N = 32), 31.3 % of children experiencing such a sudden injury requiring hospitalization at the University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital demonstrated significant indications of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the injury. Several pre, peri, and post-trauma variables from during the child’s hospitalization to the follow-up period four to five weeks later were correlated with this outcome including age, ethnicity, acute stress disorder (ASD) with or without dissociation criteria being met, prior medical experience, parent’s score on the BSI-18 while the child is still in this hospital, chronic illness status, gender, number of coping strategies reported by the child while in the hospital, the number of negative coping strategies reported, the amount of pain reported, and several follow-up variables (parent’s BSI-18 score, number of coping strategies reported, number of negative and positivecoping strategies reported, injury threat, and total number of impairments reported by the