Conceptualizing the Statement of Problem

What is the problem?

• Overwhelming incidence of untreated PTSD among low-income urban youth and families resulting in lots of negative consequences - emotional, social, behavioral, cognitive, academic, physical, economic, safety and generational.

Why is it a problem?

• Multiple and chronic trauma exposure common in urban communities
• Limited access and underutilization of intensive and selected interventions, particularly evidence based interventions and mind-body-spirit approaches

Why is it important to study?  Gaps in the research?

• Variability in PTSD development has been largely explained in terms of individual risk and protective factors and less so in terms of family and cultural risk and protective factors
• Explaining PTSD development primarily in terms of individual-level risk and protective factors limits treatment to individual-level approaches - which are more expensive and may not be culturally acceptable to urban families