CTDA 1013: Posttraumatic Stress in Children Age 6 to 15 Hospitalized for Traumatic Brain Injuries, Australia, 2004-2008 (ICPSR 39602)
Version Date: May 19, 2026 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Justin Kenardy, University of Queensland
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39602.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study prospectively assessed psychological and cognitive sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children. Multiple factors may influence children's functioning following head injury including injury severity, pre-injury child factors, and family factors. Overall study aims were to describe the relationships between these factors and children's recovery in the eighteen months following their injury, to examine the relationship between children's cognitive impairments post injury and psychological distress related to the injury event, and to examine the role of PTSD in children's recovery from TBI.
The study enrolled children age 6 to 15 admitted to hospital after an accident resulting in mild to severe TBI, and one parent per child. Children and parents completed research assessments within 2 months of the accident, and at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post-accident. Child health and behavior, health-related quality of life, parenting, and parent posttraumatic stress were assessed at all time points, and child posttraumatic stress symptoms were assessed at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months.
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Access to these data requires a signed Researcher Application which is available to download as study documentation.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
- The project is part of the Child Trauma Data Archives (CTDA). For more information, please visit the CTDA series website and refer to the Collection Notes document under the Data and Documentation tab.
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This project is intended to be used in cross-study analysis with other child trauma datasets.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine health outcomes and the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among children who experienced a traumatic brain injury requiring hospital care.
Study Design View help for Study Design
Children aged 6 to 15 were recruited from three Australian hospitals and enrolled following treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participating parents and children completed several assessments at 5 separate timepoints from 2-18 months post-injury. Parents completed demographic-medical interviews and questionnaires within two months of their child's injury, while children were assessed using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for Children and Adolescents (CAPS-CA) three months after injury to allow for neurological recovery. The CAPS-CA was administered in a fixed order by trained research assistants with standardized instructions at 3, 6, and 18 months post-injury.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Children hospitalized for accident-related traumatic brain injury and their parents.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Variables in Child Trauma Data Archive (CTDA) datasets have been standardized for cross-study analysis. For variable naming conventions, please refer to the CTDA Data Manual.
- Study-level metadata: study title and P.I., series ID, methodology (e.g., recruitment setting type)
- Traumatic event descriptors: injury type/cause, degree of exposure (i.e., direct or indirect), injury circumstance, year of event, measures of head-injury severity including neurological symptoms and coma severity measures
- Demographics: child/adolescent age, sex, race/ethnicity, year of school; parent/caregiver sex, age, race/ethnicity, relationship status, relation to child/adolescent
- Stress items: emotions, cognitions, and behaviors experienced during and following the incident (e.g., isolation, numbness, dissociation, poor memory, nightmares)
- Mental health symptoms: depression, anxiety, self-esteem, nervousness
- Parenting style: level and forms of parent attention and support for child
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
- Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for Children and Adolescents (CAPS-CA)
- Traumatic Stress Checklist for Children (TSCC)
- Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ)
- Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)
- Impact of Event Scale - Revised (IES-R) - parents
- University of Queensland Parenting Questionnaire
Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2026-05-19
Version History View help for Version History
2026-05-19 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
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