Protocol for evaluation of effects of a psychoeducational trauma-informed intervention directed at schools

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) can have negative effects on cognitive, social and emotion regulation abilities, which can threaten the child’s school integration and capacity to learn. While steady relations to sensitive, understanding adults may moderate these negative outcomes, the difficulties of children with ACEs pose a major challenge for teachers, whose insufficient preparation may lead to career attrition. Objective: Psychoeducational trauma-informed care (TIC) interventions targeting teachers may strengthen teacher preparation and buffer the deleterious outcomes of ACEs, yet the evidence-base for these interventions is limited. Importantly, while minority groups are overrepresented among those with ACEs and additionally risk exposure to ethno-racial trauma, TIC interventions lack a social disadvantage/discrimination perspective. The Present trial addresses these issues. Method: The study protocol employs a quasi-experimental design for assessing effects of a psychoeducational TIC intervention carried out in Swedish schools by Save the Children, Sweden (SCS). We compare, for the first time, an intervention group (N = 160) and a control group (N = 160) over time (pre-intervention, immediately after, 6 and 12 months post-intervention), assessing teacher stress, compassion fatigue, self-efficacy and trauma-informed knowledge. We monitor teacher attitudes and attributions of students’ academic weaknesses and behavioural and mental difficulties. The trial is preregistered (DOI:10.17605/OSF.IO/V7SH8). Results: We hope that the mitigating effects of the SCS-TIC school intervention may be independent of social category, and that the trial will additionally generate knowledge of how providers and recipients of TIC may respond to it differently depending on their social and cultural identities. As school-based TIC practices and interventions are expansively relied on as means of preventing teacher burnout and career attrition, and buffering negative consequences of ACEs for children, establishing their effects with methodological robustness is important and timely. Conclusion: Such knowledge may be used to tailor and target interventions to specific populations, while ensuring maximum effectiveness.