Improving Access to Care for Warfighters: Virtual Worlds Technology to Enhance Primary Care Training in Post-Traumatic Stress and Motivational Interviewing

Abstract

Veterans present to primary care providers (PCPs) with posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms because many are resistant to specialty mental health care. Most PCPs have not been trained to assess for and manage symptoms of PTS or motivate Veterans to engage in treatment. This can result in missed opportunities to intervene to prevent chronic mental and physical health problems. Therefore, the project aims to: (1) iteratively design a new web-based PTS and Motivational Interviewing training for PCPs using Virtual World technology to enhance interactivity; (2) implement a robust evaluation including a randomized control trial for clinically valid outcome measurement; (3) Conduct a summative evaluation to inform national scale-up dissemination and implementation. The final product will be a deliverable that will improve access to quality clinical care for our warfighters suffering with PTS. This report shares progress made during Year 1 of the project, which includes a developmental formative evaluation and storyboards displaying the training content. Year 2 will be dedicated to the build, refinement, and implementation of the virtual world training.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2016
Accession Number
AD1023916

Entities

People

  • Karen H. Seal

Organizations

  • Northern California Institute for Research and Education

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anxiety Disorders
  • California
  • Computers
  • Department Of Defense
  • Drug Abuse
  • Education
  • Health
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Health
  • Psychiatry
  • Students
  • Training
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Video Games
  • Virtual Reality

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Mental Health of Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Risk Factors, Prevalence, Symptoms, and Treatment.