Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is prevalent among Veterans and effective evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for PTSD have been implemented within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). However, retention in PTSD EBPs is poor. Premature dropout is associated with worse clinical outcomes and greater healthcare utilization. Delivery of PTSD EBPs in a massed format, typically three or more days per week delivered within a month, have shown promise for increasing retention. The present study is a pilot feasibility and acceptability study comparing massed PTSD treatment to treatment as usual (e.g., typically weekly treatment).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
30
CPT or PE will be delivered in a massed format (e.g., sessions at least 3 days per week)
CPT or PE will be delivered treatment as usual, which is typically once per week.
Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC
Durham, North Carolina, United States
Treatment completion
Proportion of Veterans who complete a full course of an assigned PTSD treatment
Time frame: Immediately after treatment completion or discontinuation (weeks 0-20)
Acceptability of Intervention (AIM)
Veterans' perceived acceptability of massed treatment for PTSD; scale score ranges from 1-5; greater score = greater acceptability
Time frame: Immediately after treatment completion or discontinuation (weeks 0-20)
Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8 (CSQ-8)
Veterans' perceived satisfaction of assigned treatment; range 8-32; greater scores = greater satisfaction
Time frame: Post-treatment (weeks 0-20)
Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) Severity Score
PTSD Symptom Severity - Clinician Assessed; range 0-80; higher scores = greater severity.
Time frame: Post-treatment (weeks 0-20)
Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) Severity Score
PTSD Symptom Severity - Clinician Assessed; range 0-80; higher scores = greater severity.
Time frame: 3 Month Follow up
Session attendance
The number of sessions attended of the assigned treatment
Time frame: Post-treatment (weeks 0-20)
Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)
Self-reported depression; range = 0-27; higher scores = more severe symptoms
Time frame: Post-treatment (weeks 0-20)
Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)
Self-reported depression; range = 0-27; higher scores = more severe symptoms
Time frame: 3 Month Follow Up
Brief Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning (BIPF)
PTSD-related psychosocial functioning; higher scores = more functional impairment. Items are scored on a Likert scale from 0 (never) to 6 (always). Participants are instructed to skip any item that does not reflect a domain that they have participated in over the past 30 days. The B-IPF is scored by summing the scored items to create a total score, dividing the total score by the maximum possible score based on the number of items scored, and multiplying by 100.
Time frame: Post-treatment (weeks 0-20)
Brief Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning (BIPF)
PTSD-related psychosocial functioning; higher scores = more functional impairment. Items are scored on a Likert scale from 0 (never) to 6 (always). Participants are instructed to skip any item that does not reflect a domain that they have participated in over the past 30 days. The B-IPF is scored by summing the scored items to create a total score, dividing the total score by the maximum possible score based on the number of items scored, and multiplying by 100.
Time frame: 3 Month Follow up
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