Facilitating Transition to Recommended PTSD Treatment

Conditions

• PTSD

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

18 Years - N/A

Healthy Volunteers

Not accepted

Interventions

• Treatment As Usual — BEHAVIORAL
  Care Coordination Treatment as usual with a VA mental health treatment coordinator
• New Health Services Intervention — BEHAVIORAL
  The experimental care coordination intervention begins with a 60-minute in-person session and continues with regular, brief contacts between the Veteran and clinician. During the first session, the clinician and Veteran will (1) discuss the Veteran's beliefs about their presenting problem; (2) collaboratively identify SMART goals; (3) discuss treatment options; (4) use shared decision-making to match treatment to SMART goals; (5) develop criteria to evaluate treatment progress; and (6) manage treatment expectations. During follow-up sessions, the clinician and Veteran will reflect on treatment progress, make appropriate updates to SMART goals, and re-evaluate barriers to CPT or PE.

Study Details

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and prolonged exposure therapy (PE) were widely disseminated as recommended posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatments. However, post-9/11 Veterans with PTSD rarely initiate CPT or PE, especially as an initial treatment. Little research has explored the combinations and sequences of psychosocial and medication treatments that Veterans receive ("treatment sequences"). One common and understudied treatment sequence begins with stabilization treatment, which is designed to prepare Veterans for CPT or PE. There is a significant research gap in understanding how treatment sequence affects initiation of CPT or PE. The proposed research is an innovative, mixed-methods approach to assessing the impact of variability in treatment sequence, including stabilization treatment, on initiation of CPT or PE and applying this knowledge by developing a health services intervention that facilitates timely transition to CPT or PE. Research aims can improve PTSD treatment by increasing initiation of and reducing disparities in CPT/PE.

Key Dates

Start date

Aug 1, 2026

Status verified

Jun 2026

Primary completion

May 3, 2027

Completion

May 3, 2027

Study Design

Enrollment

40 participants (estimated)

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Arms

• Active Comparator: TAU
  Treatment As Usual with a VA mental health treatment coordinator
• Experimental: New Health Services Intervention
  Novel health services intervention with a VA mental health treatment coordinator

Primary Outcome Measure

Initiation of Recommended PTSD Treatment [ Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 1 year ]

Central Contacts

• Nicholas Holder, PhD
  (415) 221-4810
  [email protected]

Locations (1)

Find similar trials in San Francisco, CA

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