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

Abstract

Most veterans with PTSD first present to primary care (versus mental health) because of medical symptoms associated with PTSD (e.g., disrupted sleep). Primary care providers (PCPs) often fail to identify or manage PTSD-related symptoms because they lack training. Few PTSD trainings target PCPs and none provide communication training in techniques like Motivational Interviewing (MI), a non-judgmental, empathic and active listening style that helps mitigate stigma and motivate engagement in mental health treatment. Previously, our group developed and tested an asynchronous, web-based PTSD training for PCPs which contained prerecorded clinical vignettes of providers demonstrating assessment and management of PTSD and MI with war veterans. Because the prior training was asynchronous (available any time), it was not difficult for busy PCPs to find time to complete it and it was relatively inexpensive to produce. In a pilot study of the web-based training, among 70 PCPs, PTSD knowledge and perceived self-efficacy improved by the end of the training compared to their baseline scores (Samuelson K, 2013). In addition, PCPs reported that the web-based training was easy to use with few technical problems, yet it lacked interactivity and the ability to practice PTSD assessment and management skills during the training. In the current study, we proposed to develop and test a synchronous Virtual World (VW) training that is more interactive, simulates trauma and PTSD symptoms, and allows PCPs to practice communication skills in assessing and managing PTSD symptoms, including MI. Our overall goal was to build competency among a primary care workforce to better detect and manage PTSD symptoms and motivate treatment engagement in veterans, which may generalize to other populations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2021
Accession Number
AD1150068

Entities

People

  • Karen H. Seal

Organizations

  • Northern California Institute for Research and Education

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan Conflict
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Drug Abuse
  • Electronic Mail
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • Motivation
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychology
  • Reliability
  • Standards
  • Therapy
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Virtual Reality

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Mental Health of Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Risk Factors, Prevalence, Symptoms, and Treatment.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.