Do You Really Expect Me to Get MST Care in a VA Where Everyone is Male Innovative Delivery of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy to Women with Military Sexual Trauma

Abstract

Veterans who experience military sexual trauma (MST) are at heightened risk of developing psychiatric difficulties such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, this group of Veterans may under-utilize evidence-based interventions for PTSD such as Prolonged Exposure (PE). Likely reasons for this under-utilization include unique barriers to care faced by MST survivors such as avoidance of VA medical facilities due to their potential to cue distressing memories and symptoms. The current study includes a randomized controlled study design comparing clinical outcomes between two groups: Veterans receiving PE for PTSD-related MST via home-based telehealth (PE-HBT) and Veterans receiving PE for PTSD-related MST via standard service delivery (PE-SD). Women assigned to receive PE via home-based telehealth will have the particular advantage of being able to receive services from their home, thereby circumventing some of the traditional access to care barriers faced by this clinical population. It is anticipated that this advantage will result in increased session attendance and compliance, which in turn will result in better clinical and quality of life outcomes due to increased dosing of the intervention. The proposed project stands to fill significant gaps in the literature with regard to how to optimally engage and retain MST positive Veterans in VA mental healthcare. There is only one PTSD treatment outcome study focused exclusively on female Veterans and no extant studies testing home-based telehealth for sexual assault victims. Thus, the proposed project also stands to make a significant contribution to mental health service delivery models for female Veterans and sexual assault victims more broadly.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2019
Accession Number
AD1093989

Entities

People

  • Anouk Grubaugh
  • Ron Acierno
  • Wendy Muzzy

Organizations

  • Medical University of South Carolina

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Veterans Affairs
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Health
  • Mental Health Services
  • Minority Groups
  • Psychology
  • Psychotherapy
  • Public Health
  • Sexual Assault
  • Therapy
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Video Teleconferencing
  • Women'S Health

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Naval Mine Countermeasure Systems Development.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.
  • Systems Analysis and Design