Targeted Psychoeducation for At-Risk Trauma Survivors

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed 36-month development grant would lay the foundation for a full-scale prevention research program aimed at increasing mental health care utilization in survivors of physical trauma at high risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Scant attention has been devoted to strategies to bridge the chasm between the medical center trauma facility focus on physical injury and the reality that many physically injured trauma survivors have unmet mental health needs. In particular, the mental health needs of many physically injured trauma survivors go unrecognized. Accumulating evidence points to lack of problem recognition and other subjective barriers to care as presenting major obstacles to receiving services. The specific aims of the proposed planning grant are: (a) to conduct qualitative, semi-structured face-to-face interviews with approximately 40 persons who developed PTSD following hospitalization for physical injuries to obtain information regarding problem recognition and barriers to care; (b) to use this information to develop a brief, culturally appropriate videotape-based psychoeducation intervention to promote awareness of posttraumatic distress, to provide information about possible treatment options, and to reduce subjective barriers to seeking care; and (c) to pilot test the impact of the psychoeducation materials on a cohort of approximately 70 hospitalized survivors of traumatic injury. Participants in the pilot would be randomly assigned to the intervention or to a 'care as usual' group. The intervention would examine whether the materials increase knowledge about PTSD, raise levels of problem recognition, and reduce subjective barriers to care for at risk individuals. Pre-post assessment of the psychoeducation group would quantify increases in knowledge and problem recognition, and decreases in perceived barriers to care. The 'care as usual' group would provide cross-group comparisons in outcomes as measured at baseline and 3-month follow-up.