Efficacy of cognitive-behavioral treatment and fire safety education for children who set fires: Initial and follow-up outcomes

The efficacy of cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) and fire safety educat ion (FSE) for children who had set a recent fire was evaluated. Assessments were conducted with 38 children who were randomly assigned to CBT or FSE a nd with another 16 children who received a brief intervention (home visit f rom a firefighter or HVF) that paralleled routine services. Measures in fou r domains related to the child's fire history were obtained from children a nd their parents at pre-treatment, post-assessment, and I-year follow-up. T here were several improvements at post-treatment for all conditions on meas ures of fire involvement, interest, and risk. However, CBT and FSE were mor e efficacious than HVF on certain measures, including the frequency of fire setting and proportion of children playing with matches. severity of indivi dualized problems with fire, and involvement in fire-related acts and other deviant fire activities. These and other group differences, along with cer tain time effects, were evident at 1-year follow-up. The findings from this initial comparison study are discussed in the context of needed clinical a nd research directions for work with firesetters and their families.