Purpose: Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) provide primary-care-based mental health services to rural veterans who live long distances from Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. Characterizing the composition of usual care will highlight the need and potential strategies to improve access to and engagement in evidence-based psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Method: Veterans (N = 132) with PTSD recruited from 5 large- (5,000-10,000 patients) and 6 medium-sized (1,500-4,999) CBOCs were enrolled in the usual care arm of a randomized control trial for a PTSD collaborative care study.
Collaborative care (CC) increases access to evidence-based pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. The study aim was to identify the characteristics of rural veterans receiving a telemedicine-based CC intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who initiated and engaged in cognitive processing therapy (CPT) delivered via interactive video. Veterans diagnosed with PTSD were recruited from 11 community-based outpatient clinics (N = 133).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study assessed whether adding a telephone care management protocol to usual aftercare improved the outcomes of veterans in the year after they were discharged from residential treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Methods: In a multisite randomized controlled trial, 837 veterans entering residential PTSD treatment were assigned to receive either standard outpatient aftercare (N=425) or standard aftercare plus biweekly telephone monitoring and support (N=412) for three months after discharge. Symptoms of PTSD and depression, violence, substance use, and quality of life were assessed by self-report questionnaires at intake, discharge, and four and 12 months postdischarge.