Prospective study of post-traumatic stress disorder in children involved in road traffic accidents

British Medical Journal, Dec 12, 1998 by Paul Stallard, Richard Velleman, Sarah Baldwin

Key messages

* One in three children involved in everyday road traffic accidents was found to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder

* Post-traumatic stress disorder was experienced by children of all ages, although girls were most likely to be affected

* Neither the type of accident nor the nature and severity of the physical injuries were related to the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder

* The child's personal appraisal of the accident was important, with those children perceiving the event as life threatening being more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder

* The psychological needs of children involved in road traffic accidents largely remain unrecognised

We are grateful for the help of Phillipa MacArthur, Julie Langsford, and Lucy Hudson in undertaking the interviews.

Contributors: PS had the original idea for the study, designed the assessment protocol, managed the project, analysed the data, and wrote the paper. RV contributed to the project development and management, advised about data analysis, and edited the paper. SB coordinated the data collection and coding and with Phillipa MacArthur, Julie Langsford, and Lucy Hudson undertook the assessment interviews.

Funding: South and West Research and Development Directorate.

Competing interests: None stated.

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