Abuse-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children Who Have Been Physically Abused

Practitioners will be randomly assigned to provide the AF-CBT treatment for 3 to 6 months. Patient participants will continue to see their regular practitioner, but will receive AF-CBT at treatment visits. Practitioners who are assigned to AF-CBT will first receive training in the treatment method. The training curriculum will include a published treatment book, intensive training sessions, which will occur weekly for 8 hours over 4 weeks, handouts that illustrate key therapeutic information and exercises, and ongoing case consultation reviews for 5 months.

This condition consists of those practitioners in each agency who will not receive study training in AF-CBT. These practitioners will simply provide services as available within their agencies.