Not many multisite investigations have been conducted that evaluate the impact of early interventions for injured patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study aims to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of a brief stepped collaborative care intervention for PTSD and subsequent comorbidity.
This stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial included a total of 327 men who were hospitalized survivors of physical injury and underwent a two-step evaluation for PTSD. The participants were randomly assigned to enhanced usual care control or intervention. The primary outcome of the study was PTSD symptoms examined with the PCL-C at baseline.
The findings suggested that during a follow-up of 3-12 months, the intervention lasted for 122 minutes (mean SD). Mixed model regression analysis showed that there were statistically significant changes in PCL-C scores for intervention patients as compared with control patients. However, the changes were significant at 6 months and not at 12 months. Subgroup analysis showed that their treatment effects of PTSD were larger for patients with three or more baseline risk factors. Other secondary outcomes in the study were not statistically significant.
The research concluded that a brief stepped collaborative care intervention was associated with a higher risk of PTSD symptom reductions at 6 months but not at 12 months.
Ref: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/article-abstract/2776953?resultClick=1
