PTSD Coach App Evaluation

Craig Barr Taylor

Status: Completed

Conditions: PTSD

Treatments: Behavioral: PTSD Coach; Device: Smartphone

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT02445196

22977

Details and patient eligibility

About

PTSD Coach is a mobile application (app) that aims to teach individuals self-management strategies for symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a major public health concern. Although effective treatments exist, affected individuals face many barriers to receiving traditional care. As smartphones are now carried by more than half of the U.S. population, they have the potential to overcome many of these barriers by delivering self-help interventions on apps. Despite PTSD Coach's use of evidence-based cognitive behavioral strategies there is still a need to test the effectiveness of the app in managing PTSD symptoms. This controlled, two-arm, randomized (1:1) trial will evaluate the efficacy, feasibility and acceptability of PTSD Coach to reduce PTSD symptoms in a community sample of trauma survivors with PTSD symptoms. After completing an eligibility phone screen or online screen, individuals who score a 35 or above on the PTSD Checklist (PCL) and consent will complete a baseline assessment and then be randomized to the PTSD Coach app condition or a waitlist control group. Additionally, those assigned to the PTSD Coach intervention will be instructed to download a research version of the app, called PTSD Explorer, that enables passive and objective monitoring of app use. Each individual will be reassessed at post-intervention (3 months) and follow-up (3 months later, or 6 months after completing baseline). The investigators predict that those using the PTSD Coach app will demonstrate a significant and sustained reduction in PTSD symptoms and increase in patient coping self-efficacy compared to the waitlist control group. The investigators will explore if there is a relationship between levels of engagement and PTSD symptom change.

Enrollment: 120 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Experienced or witnessed an extremely traumatic event that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury to you or someone else. Event must have occurred more than 1 month ago.
2. Significant PTSD symptoms. Total PTSD Checklist Score ≥ 35.
3. Have a smartphone or smart device that can download apps (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or android phone or tablet).
4. English is the primary language.
5. Available for the next 6 months to participate in the study and use smart device.

Exclusion criteria

1. Unable to give informed consent.
2. Is currently receiving mental health treatment.
3. Currently participating in other PTSD-related research studies

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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120 participants in 2 patient groups

PTSD Coach

Experimental group

Description:

Subjects assigned to this condition receive information about how to download the research app, PTSD Explorer. This research version of PTSD Coach functions exactly the same, however we have the ability to track individual usage of the app. The app contains contains psycho-education about PTSD and the management of symptoms of PTSD along with activities and techniques to address symptoms. Subjects are told to use the app as much or as little as they want over the next three months.

Treatment:

Device: Smartphone

Behavioral: PTSD Coach

Waitlist Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

Subjects assigned to this condition are told: "You have been randomly assigned to Group 2, the group that does not use the app." Following their completion of the post-intervention assessment at 3 months, they are told how to access to the publicly available PTSD Coach app in the Apple App Store or Android Play Store, just so that they are made aware of the resources available to them.

Treatment:

Device: Smartphone

Behavioral: PTSD Coach