The Family of Heroes: an Evaluation of an Online Educational Tool

Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey

Status: Completed

Conditions: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; PTSD

Treatments: Behavioral: Baseline and Follow up Surveys; Behavioral: "Family of Heroes"

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT01554839

MIRB#01165

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a unique web based educational tool called "Family of Heroes," which is designed to educate families about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and provide them with practical tools for interacting with affected veteran family members. The study includes veterans and a family member of their choosing. Participants are randomly assigned to a group which takes the online training or a group that does not take the training. Both groups complete a baseline questionnaire and a follow up questionaire 60 days later. The study will examine the number of Veteran Affairs (VA) mental health visits.

Enrollment: 206 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Male or female Operation Iraqi Freedom/ Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) veteran
• Positive for PTSD, based on PTSD Checklist (PCL) score greater than or equal to 50
• Availability of a family member who is both willing to participate in the study AND has contact with the veteran 3 or more times per week
• Ability to access a computer with internet access to take educational training and surveys

Exclusion criteria

• Not and OIF/OEF veteran
• Negative for PTSD, based on PCL score less than 50
• Unavailability of a family member who is both willing to participate in the study or has contact with the veteran 3 or more times per week
• Inability to access a computer with internet access to take the educational training and surveys

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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206 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Treatment Group

Experimental group

Description:

Treatment group participates in 1 hour online educational tool in addition to baseline and follow up surveys

Treatment:

Behavioral: Baseline and Follow up Surveys

Behavioral: "Family of Heroes"

Non Treatment Group

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Non Treatment group participates in baseline and follow up surveys

Treatment:

Behavioral: Baseline and Follow up Surveys