Contributing data to the Archives helps sustain this important resource for the field, and helps to promote collaborative efforts to advance our knowledge of child trauma.
Investigators who have contributed their data most often do so with the goal of supporting this international data sharing effort. Investigators who contribute datasets to the Archive will receive regular updates on the status and use of the Child Trauma Data Archives.
In addition, submitting data to the Archives can help investigators meet data sharing requirements from their funders.
The PACT/R and CTPT archives each have slightly different aims and inclusion criteria for datasets.
The primary aims of the PACT/R Data Archive are to support research that increases understanding of risk and protective factors and symptom trajectories for psychological sequelae (including PTSD) in children and adolescents.
Thus, in order to be included in the PACT/R archive, a study dataset must have:
- at least one predictor (i.e. a potential risk or protective factor) assessed within 6 months of the event (ideally with a baseline assessment within 1 month of event), and
- at least one assessment of traumatic stress or other psychological sequelae one month or more after assessment of predictor(s)
The primary aims of the Child Trauma Prevention and Treatment (CTPT) Data Archive are to support research that advances understanding of how and for whom child trauma interventions work, so that we can intervene effectively to address the impact of trauma on child health and well-being.
To be included in the CTPT archive, a study dataset must include data from a trial of an intervention that aims to prevent or treat PTSD symptoms in children or adolescents.
- Studies that evaluated any type of intervention, including psychological / psychosocial, complementary / alternative medicine, pharmacological interventions
- Participants identified based on child’s trauma exposure (i.e. universal prevention) or post-trauma difficulties (i.e. treatment or targeted prevention)
- Trial design must include assessment of PTSD symptoms before and after an intervention, with or without a comparator condition, ie., in an RCT or pre-post design.
For both archives:
- Additional assessments of potential predictors, covariates, and other relevant outcomes are desirable
- Studies may have been conducted in any language, as long as translation is available for harmonization of measures / variables.
Investigators who are contributing data to the Child Trauma Data Archives
- provide information about the study and how data were collected,
- prepare a copy of their dataset with individual participant-level data using standard variable names and formats, and
- complete an agreement to share data with the Archives.
The CTDA team works with investigators at each step of the process.
If you are interested in contributing data to the Archives, contact the team at childtraumadata@chop.edu
Studies from which data are drawn must have been conducted with appropriate ethics board approval (for example, IRB approval for US-based studies). We require documentation of this approval as part of the data submission process. Depending on local or national regulations, the act of submitting de-identified (anonymized) datasets to the Child Trauma Data Archives may not require approval by an ethics board / IRB. It is the responsibility of the original investigator to determine whether such approval is required by their institution's ethics body, and if required, to secure approval for submission of their dataset to the Child Trauma Data Archives.
Contributing a dataset to the Child Trauma Data Archives does not affect the ongoing analyses conducted by the original research team.
In contributing data, the investigator must agree that these data will eventually be available for request by other qualified researchers. However, if funding requirements or specific analytical needs require that access to a given dataset be temporarily restricted, the Child Trauma Data Archives team is happy to discuss this with the contributing investigator.