NCT01158001

Telemedicine for Improved Delivery of Psychosocial Treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 211 (actual)
• Sponsor: Veterans Medical Research Foundation · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The objective of the proposed study is to conduct a systematic comparison of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) outcomes for veterans receiving exposure therapy via telemedicine versus in-person care. The primary aim is to determine feasibility: whether telemedicine can be used as a tool to extend effective, specialized mental health services, such as Prolonged Exposure therapy (PE; a therapy designed to help clients face fears related to a traumatic event), to veterans with limited access to care. A secondary aim is to determine if therapy delivered by telemedicine affects the quality of care in terms of clinical outcomes and the quality of patient-therapist interaction. A tertiary aim is to examine whether results from neuropsychological testing predict treatment outcomes.

Detailed description

The objective of the proposed study is to conduct a systematic comparison of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) outcomes for veterans receiving exposure therapy via telemedicine versus in-person care. Specifically, prolonged exposure therapy (PE) was conducted with veterans individually, either in person or via videoconferencing technology. PE is designed to help clients face fears related to a traumatic experience by guiding individuals through exposures to the memory of the event (called "imaginal exposure") and exposures to feared situations (called "in vivo" exposures). The primary aim is to determine the feasibility of whether telemedicine can be used as a tool to extend effective, specialized mental health services, such as PE to veterans with limited access to care. This is measured in part through patient and therapist satisfaction ratings in each condition. A secondary aim is to determine if therapy delivered by telemedicine affects the quality of care in terms of clinical outcomes and the quality of patient-therapist interaction. This is measured by relative changes in symptoms, primarily in PTSD, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. A tertiary aim is to examine whether results from neuropsychological testing predict treatment outcomes across conditions. This includes seven measures of executive functioning. The hypothesis is that poorer performance on these measures may be associated with less improvement on measures of symptom severity.

Conditions

• Posttraumatic Stress Disorders
• Depression
• Anxiety

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Prolonged exposure therapy	Twelve sessions (90 minutes each) of prolonged exposure therapy

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-05-01
• Primary completion: 2012-06-01
• Completion: 2012-09-01
• First posted: 2010-07-08
• Last updated: 2015-06-24

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States