Suchergebnisse

The Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) has launched a large-scale initiative to promote prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, an evidence-based treatment for PTSD. While existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) unambiguously support the efficacy of PE in civilian and some military populations, there is a need to better understand the course of treatment for combat Veterans of the current wars receiving PE in normative mental healthcare settings. The current study investigates 65 Veterans receiving care at an urban VA medical center. All Veterans were diagnosed with PTSD via a structured interview and treated with PE. Measures of PTSD and depression were collected pre- and post-treatment and every two sessions during treatment. Dependent means t-tests were used to estimate pre- and post-treatment d-type effect sizes. Additionally, hierarchical linear models (HLM) were used to investigate treatment effects over time, relationships between patient characteristics and outcomes, and to provide estimates of R2-type effect sizes. Results indicate that PE in regular VA mental healthcare contexts can be as effective as when implemented in carefully conducted RCTs.

BACKGROUND: Military sexual trauma (MST) is notably prevalent among military personnel and can result in mental and physical health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although there are several evidence-based treatments for MST-related PTSD, including Prolonged Exposure therapy (PE), it is unclear what factors are associated with premature termination (i.e., dropout) from this treatment. Given the popularity of PE as an evidence-based treatment for PTSD, the examination of variables that influence dropout from PE among women veterans with MST is warranted. Identification of these specific factors may assist clinicians in addressing the unique symptom profiles and potential barriers to treatment access for individual MST survivors. METHODS: The current study presents secondary data analyses from an ongoing randomized clinical trial that compared the effectiveness of PE delivered in person to delivery via telemedicine for women veterans with MST-related PTSD (n = 136). RESULTS: A total of 50% of participants dropped out from the study (n = 68). Difficulties with emotion regulation at baseline were associated with treatment dropout (odds ratio = 1.03, p < .01), while baseline PTSD and demographic factors were not. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from the current study indicate that emotion regulation skills deficits contribute to PE dropout and may be an appropriate target to address in future clinical trials for PTSD.

The role of acute care inpatient psychiatry, public and private, has changed dramatically since the 1960s, especially as recent market forces affecting the private sector have had ripple effects on publicly funded mental health care. Key stakeholders' experiences, perceptions, and opinions regarding the role of acute care psychiatry in distressed markets of publicly funded mental health care were examined. A qualitative research study was conducted using semi-structured thematic interviews with 52 senior mental health system administrators, clinical directors and managers, and nonclinical policy specialists. Participants were selected from markets in six regions of the United States that experienced recent significant closures of acute care psychiatric beds. Qualitative data analyses yielded findings that clustered around three sets of higher order themes: structure of care, service delivery barriers, and outcomes. Structure of care suggests that acute care psychiatry is seen as part of a continuum of services; service delivery barriers inhibit effective delivery of services and are perceived to include economic, regulatory, and political factors; outcomes include fragmentation of mental health care services across the continuum, the shift of mental health care to the criminal justice system, and market-specific issues affecting mental health care. Findings delineate key stakeholders' perceptions regarding the role acute care psychiatry plays in the continuum of care for publicly funded mental health and suggest that public mental health care is inefficacious. Results carry implications for policy makers regarding strategies/policies to improve optimal utilization of scarce resources for mental health care, including greater focus on psychotherapy.

Home-based telemedicine (HBT) is a validated method of evidence-based treatment delivery for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and justification for its use has centered on closing gaps related to provider availability and distance to treatment centers. However, another potential use of HBT may be to overcome barriers to care that are inherent to the treatment environment, such as with female veterans who have experienced military sexual trauma (MST) and who must present to VA Medical Centers where the majority of patients share features with perpetrator (e.g. gender, clothing) and may function as reminders of the trauma. Delivering evidence-based therapies to female veterans with MST-related PTSD via HBT can provide needed treatment to this population. This manuscript describes an ongoing federally funded randomized controlled trial comparing Prolonged Exposure (PE) delivered in-person to PE delivered via HBT. Outcomes include session attendance, satisfaction with services, and clinical and quality of life indices. It is hypothesized that based on intent-to-treat analyses, HBT delivery of PE will be more effective than SD at improving both clinical and quality of life outcomes at post, 3-, and 6-month follow-up. This is because 'dose received', that is fewer sessions missed, and lower attrition, will be observed in the HBT group. Although the current manuscript focuses on female veterans with MST-related PTSD, implications for other populations facing systemic barriers are discussed.