Running head: DATA PRESENTATION

Tiera Couch
Date Presentation
SW 4810
Dr. Sharonlyn Harrison
Wayne State University

Sample

Running head: DATA PRESENTATION

The objective of the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of recently developed

treatment for repairing trauma signs. The study involved a sample of 50 participants. Upon
opening assessment clients were required to define their demographics and history, topics were
gathered on ethnicity, age, gender and previous trauma. Prior to beginning treatment, participants
completed the Trauma Symptoms Scale (TSS) to measure the number of traumas experienced by
participants. The TSS was structured as a 15-item self-report, which directed clients to quantify
the frequency of which they experienced unpleasant happenings such as nightmares, angry
outbursts, sadness, bad thoughts, flashbacks, fear, and withdrawal because of past trauma.
At random clients were divided into two groups. Treatment group A received the new
treatment, and Treatment Group B received the previously established treatment. Clients were
later randomly assigned residency in one of the three cottages. During the course of treatment
participants serious behavioral incidents were monitored and documented. Researchers also
measured rapport between client and therapist and the number of canceled therapy sessions. In
addition, the amount of off-campus privileges participants earned was recorded pre and posttreatment.
In order to analyses the characteristics of the participants, the study collected descriptive
statistics. The sample of 50 included 25 females and 25 males, the majority of participants
classified as either Caucasian or African American. Table 1 below displays both gender and
ethnical characteristics of the sample and illustrates the unbalanced proportion of ethnicities.

Table 1: Participants Demographic Characteristics

n (%)
Gender
Male
Female

25 50%
25 50%

Running head: DATA PRESENTATION

Ethnicity
Caucasian
African American
Hispanic
Other

20 40%
15 30%
13 26%
2 4%

Participants ages ranged from 7-15 years old, the majority of participants landed in the
9-11 age group. There were 25 participants in each treatment group and every cottage housed
about a third of youth. As shown in table 2 below TSS improved from pre to post treatment.
Initially, TSS scores ranged from 27-57 and after treatment the TSS scores ranged from 11-29
(Lower scores indicate decreased traumatic symptoms). There was also a distinction in the
occurrence of clients earning off-campus privileges pre and post-treatment. Before the treatment,
50% of youth received off-campus privileges and after treatment the percentage increased to
70%. The number of serious behavior incidences was measured on a scale of 0-22, and the
number of canceled therapy sessions was measured on a scale of 1-6. The quality of workerclient relationships was ranked on a scale of 0-10, 78% of the participants rated their
relationships with the therapist at a 6 or higher. Table 2 defines the frequency, mean and standard
deviation of the above variables.

Table 2: Other Important Descriptive Characteristics.

n
Age (in years)

Mean
50

SD
10.84

1.98

Running head: DATA PRESENTATION

Number of Post Trauma Score

50
19.42
5.33
Number of Pre Trauma Score
50
44.68
8.17
Number of Pre Earned Off Campus Privileges 50
1.5
.51
Number of Post Earned Off Campus Privileges 50
1.3
.46
Number of Serious Behavior Incidence
50
5.5
5.48
Quality of Therapist-Client Relationship
50
6.88
2.25
Number of Canceled therapy sessions
50
2.84
1.71
As stated earlier, the sample revealed an unbalanced representation of ethnicities. A
greater proportion of participants identified as Caucasian or African-American, the indicated
might influence the studies generalizability on account of a wide range of ethnicities not equally
represented. An additional determinant that may impair the representativeness of the study is that
the majority of participants fall in the 9-11 age group. With the larger part of clients falling in the
same age group the treatment may only prove to be ideal for that particular group. The sample
of participants at different ages is not significant enough to represent all youth or generalize the
findings.
Bivariate Analysis
The primary focus of the study was to test the effectiveness of a newly found treatment as
a solution to reducing trauma symptoms in affected youth. The results of the new treatment were
compared to those of the routine treatment for pre and post-test outcomes for the number of
serious incidents, ability to earn off campus privileges and TSS scores. In addition, the study
posed three questions to test whether or not relationships existed between variables. If
relationships were present, it was determined if they affected outcomes such as the frequency of
serious behavioral incidents, TSS score and the client obtaining off-campus privileges. All
questions were measured at a 0.05 level of significance, results, as well as the determination of
whether the null or alternative hypothesis is valid, are listed below.
Research Question #1: Is there a correlation between the clients age and the frequency of
serious behavioral incidents?

Running head: DATA PRESENTATION

Null Hypothesis: There is not a correlation between the clients age and the frequency of
serious behavioral incidents.
Alternative Hypothesis: There is a correlation between the clients age and the frequency of
serious behavioral incidents.
Independent Variable: Age
Dependent Variable: Serious Behavioral Incidents
A correlation analysis was performed in order to determine whether or not a relationship existed
between participants age and the frequency of serious behavioral incidences. The results reject
the null hypothesis and show a statistically significant relationship between variables. Pearsons r
was used because research question required the calculation of two ratio variables. Results
indicate that clients age influences their capacity to commit serious behavioral incidences.
Research Question #2: Is there a relationship between the clients gender and the client
obtaining off-campus privileges?
Null Hypothesis: There is not a relationship between the clients gender and the client
obtaining off-campus privileges.
Alternative Hypothesis: There is a relationship between the clients gender and the client
obtaining off-campus privileges.
Independent Variable: Gender
Dependent Variable: Gaining off-campus privileges
Chi-square and cross tabulation were used to determine if a significant relationship exists
between participants gender and or not they earned off-campus privileges. In each gender, 50%
of recipients received off-campus privileges. The alternative hypothesis was rejected there was
no substantial level of significance between variables. The chi-square and cross tabulation
evaluations were chosen because the variables were both nominal. Results indicate that the
gender of the client does not determine their ability to earn off-campus privileges.
Research Question #3: Does the treatment the client receives influence the clients score on
the trauma symptoms scale posttest?
Null Hypothesis: The treatment the client receives does not influence the clients score on the
trauma symptoms scale posttest.

Running head: DATA PRESENTATION

Alternative Hypothesis: The treatment the client receives influences the clients score on
the trauma symptoms scale posttest.
Independent Variable: Treatment
Dependent variable: Post trauma symptom scale scores
In order to calculate whether or not treatment types influence clients score on the TSS posttest,
the t-test was used. The t-test was the best fit because the hypothesis only required the
examination of two variables. Null hypothesis was rejected as results showed that participants in
the new treatment showed a more positive score on the TSS. Results indicate that the new
treatment is more successful in reducing traumatic symptoms in youth.
Implications
The treatment used trauma-informed care to work with the youth. Studies show that
adolescences involved in residential treatment have most often experienced a series of traumatic
incidences (American Association, 2014, p. 97). In order to successfully treat such clients their
history of traumatic experiences must be taken into account, this is necessary for providing an
accurate assessment and preventing the risk of causing further trauma (American Association,
2014, p. 97). The study relied heavily on self-reports from participants. The downside of using
self-reports as an assessment tool is the risk of participants reporting bias responses (Robinson &
Doueck, 1994, p. 224). A participant awareness of the implications for pre and post evaluations
may allow that information to determine their answers (Robinson & Doueck, 1994, p. 224). The
positive correlations resulting from treatment indicate that this study would be beneficial when
working with youth ages 9-11, it is too premature to make claims for success when working with
other age groups.

Running head: DATA PRESENTATION

Reference
AmericanAssociationofChildrensResidentialCenters.(2014).TraumaInformedCarein
ResidentialTreatment.ResidentialTreatmentforChildren&Youth,31:2,97104.doi:
10.1080/0886571X.2014.918429
Robinson,E.A.R.,Doueck,H.J.(1994).ImplicationsofthePre/Post/ThenDesignfor
EvaluatingSocialGroupWork.ResearchonSocialWorkPractice,2224239.doi:
10.1177/104973159400400207

Running head: DATA PRESENTATION