Research

 

Trust Based Relational Intervention or TBRI® was developed by The Karyn Purvis Institute for Child Development at Texas Christian University by child development psychologists Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross, to meet the complex needs of children who have experienced adversity, early harm, toxic stress, and/or trauma. This research also shows that normal development can be compromised in the womb when faced with unhealthy conditions such as a pregnant mother experiencing adversity. This means a difficult birth or, necessary, and life saving medical procedures during infancy and early childhood can all be risk factors for developmental trauma and result in similar damage as intentional harm. 

TBRI® combines years of attachment research with the latest advances in neuroscience to not only provide us with reasons why children from hard places behave the way they do but also what to do about it.  Because of their histories, it is often difficult for these children to trust the loving adults in their lives, which often results in perplexing behaviors. These behaviors are not readily fixed by typical clinical approaches which rely on age-appropriate verbal and reasoning skills. What we now know is that these children from hard places are functioning at half or less their biological age. TBRI® offers practical tools for parents, caregivers, teachers, or anyone who works with children, to see the “whole child” in their care and help that child reach his highest potential. 

​​​​​​​Through our four-part TBRI® training, caregivers will learn the three basic principles adults can employ to heal the injuries trauma has inflicted upon the children in their care:

• Connecting Principles: The essence of TBRI®, the Connecting Principles module focuses on practical ways to build healthy relationships and attachment. Through eye contact, healthy touch, and other practical ways to build bonds, caregivers are guided into creating secure attachments that catalyze the healing process.
   

• Empowering Principles: In this unit, caregivers learn practical strategies to help children feel safe. This module teaches caregivers techniques for being aware of and consistently providing for children’s physiological and environmental needs, such as adequate hydration, sleep, nutrition, exercise, and sensory stimulation.
   

• Correcting Principles: In this stage, caregivers are taught strategies for imparting self-regulation skills to the children in their care. After taking this module, participants will be better equipped to manage tantrums, aggressive behavior and more.

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TBRI® is rated as a Promising Practice in the topic area of Mental Health Prevention and Treatment by the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse, developed in accordance with the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA).  Additionally, the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse (CEBC) indicates that it is promising research evidence for Parent Training Programs with high relevance for child welfare.

Researchers at the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development regularly conduct studies demonstrating the efficacy of TBRI®, and have continued to find TBRI® to be effective in promoting drastic change in the outcomes for struggling kids and teens.

• As a result of their parents’ decision to learn TBRI®, children have demonstrated significantly improved global functioning based on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale for Children (BPRS-C), and a significant decrease in psychiatric symptom levels based on the Child’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS).

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• After becoming trained, parents report significantly less stress as reported on the Parental Stress Scale.

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• TBRI® effects a decrease in behavioral problems and trauma symptoms among at-risk adopted children following trauma-informed parent training intervention.

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• After the first year of implementation in a charter school at a residential facility for at-risk youth, school data showed a 33% decrease in referrals for physical aggression or fighting with peers over a one-year period. After a two-year period of implementation, school data showed a 68% decrease in office referrals for physical aggression. Overall there were 902 of these types of referrals combined in 2010-2011, and only 59 in 2012-2013, resulting in a 93.5% decrease in these types of incidents after the first two years of the implementation process.

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• Decreases in serious incident reports by 39% and containments by 60% after TBRI® implementation in a group home setting providing transitional services for children ages 4 to 12 who could no longer live with their families.