Behavioral Health Technician Delivered Written Exposure Therapy
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Written Exposure Therapy, Treatment as Usual (TAU).
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Written Exposure Therapy. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Increasing Access to Evidenced-Based PTSD Treatment in the Military: Behavioral Health Technician Delivered Written Exposure Therapy
Overview
This study has two main goals. First, it aims to test a treatment called written exposure therapy to see if it can help military service members who have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Second, it aims to test a new way of making this therapy more accessible in military clinics by utilizing task-sharing with Behavioral Health Technicians (BHTs). PTSD is a common and serious issue among service members. Written exposure therapy (WET) has been proven to be effective for improving PTSD that requires five therapy sessions delivered weekly. This study aims to determine: 1. How well does written exposure therapy help to reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress for service members with PTSD? 2. Is sharing the therapy tasks with behavioral health technicians is a helpful approach for managing behavioral health clinic patient volume and improving patient outcomes? We plan to recruit a total of 40-59 staff participants, as well as 150 active-duty patient participants with PTSD. We will randomize patient participants to one of two treatment conditions: 1) treatment-as-usual (TAU) or 2) TAU and 5 sessions of WET. Staff and participants will be recruited from two military treatment facilities: 1) Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio (Brooke Army Medical Center) and 2) Camp Pendleton (Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton). Consented patient participants will: * Complete a PTSD interview via telehealth with a study team member to determine if you are eligible for the study * Be randomly assigned to one of the following conditions: 1) TAU + WET or 2) TAU * Complete up to 8 weeks of behavioral health treatment (either TAU + WET or TAU) * Complete self-report measures before, during, and after treatment, and at a 3- and 6-month follow up assessment after the treatment period * Complete a posttreatment PTSD interview via telehealth with a study team member * A subset of participants will be asked to complete a brief treatment experience interview posttreatment Consented staff participants will: * Participate in an interview about your perceptions of and experiences supporting BHT-delivered WET with a study team member at the VAPAHCS * A subset of participants will also be asked to participate in a brief staff feedback interview approximately 6 months after their first interview
Interventions
- Behavioral Written Exposure Therapy
Written Exposure Therapy (WET) is a 5-session, trauma-focused intervention in which individuals write about their traumatic experience following scripted instructions. - Behavioral Treatment as Usual (TAU)
Treatment as usual (TAU) will be available to all patient participants. Treatment as usual may include various forms of psychotherapy and or medication management.
Primary outcome measures
- Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5) [Time frame: Change from baseline to immediately post treatment]
Secondary outcome measures (12)
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5) [Time frame: Change from baseline through 6 months post treatment]
- Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) [Time frame: Change from baseline through 6 months post treatment]
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item (GAD-7) Scale [Time frame: Change from baseline through 6 months post treatment]
- Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) [Time frame: Change from baseline through 6 months post treatment]
- Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5) [Time frame: Baseline]
- Depressive Symptoms Index-Suicidality Subscale (DSI-SS). [Time frame: Change from baseline through 6 months post treatment]
- History of Head Injuries [Time frame: Baseline]
- Brief Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning (B-IPF). [Time frame: Changes from baseline through 6 months post treatment]
- Credibility/Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ) [Time frame: Immediately after the first treatment session, and immediately after the final treatment session]
- Net Prompter Score [Time frame: Post treatment (~6 months post baseline)]
- Patient Satisfaction Survey [Time frame: Post treatment (~6 months post baseline)]
- Treatment Engagement [Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
Patient participants:
- Adult active duty personnel ages ≥18
- Clinically significant PTSD symptoms (CAPS-5 ≥ 25).
Clinic staff participants: Individuals working as BHTs, clinic providers, and clinic leaders working at the behavioral health clinics participating in the study
Exclusion criteria
Patient participants:
- Current suicide or homicide risk meriting crisis intervention
- Serious mental health symptoms, such as mania, psychosis, alcohol or substance use disorders warranting immediate attention
- Inability to comprehend the baseline screening questionnaires
- Definite plans to leave the military within 10 weeks
Clinic staff participants:
None
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Single blind
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06789887 · MCA0011