Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their intimate partners often express a desire for partner involvement (e.g., communication with therapists) in veterans' trauma-focused treatment (TFT), which can enhance treatment engagement and response. Although relationship satisfaction and PTSD symptoms in both partners may impact their interest in treatment involvement, there is a dearth of literature investigating these influences dyadically. The current study is a secondary analysis of data from veterans and their partners who completed a mailed survey as the veteran was beginning TFT through the Veterans Affairs (n = 211 dyads). We conducted an actor-partner interdependence model to examine the influence of veterans' and partners' relationship satisfaction, PTSD symptoms, and their interactions on each of their interest in having the partner talk with the therapist. Veterans were more interested in therapists speaking with their intimate partners when they experienced greater relationship satisfaction (β = .23, SE = .07), and when their partner had less relationship satisfaction and lower PTSD symptoms (B = -0.38, SE = 0.13). Intimate partners were more interested in speaking with the therapist when their own PTSD symptom severity was higher (β = .19, SE = .07), and when they experienced less relationship satisfaction and the veterans' PTSD severity was high (B = -0.28, SE = 0.11). Results suggest the importance of considering interconnections between veterans' and their partners' PTSD symptoms and relationship satisfaction when determining when and how to encourage partner-therapist discussions during veterans' TFT.

Although trauma-focused treatments (TFTs) are generally effective, not all patients improve. Symptom accommodation (i.e., altering one's behavior in response to another's symptoms) by loved ones may be particularly relevant to TFT treatment response and engagement. We examined the role of symptom accommodation by support persons (SPs) in veterans' PTSD treatment response, including the mediating role of treatment engagement and the moderating role of relationship strain. Veterans engaging in prolonged exposure or cognitive processing therapy and a loved one (N = 172 dyads) were sampled at two time points approximately four months apart. Measures of treatment engagement (i.e., highest session completed from the treatment protocol and homework completion) were obtained from hospital records. We found that relationship strain moderated the effect of symptom accommodation on treatment response, ∆R2 = .02. Specifically, Time 1 (T1) accommodation predicted poorer treatment response (i.e., Time 2 [T2] PTSD symptom severity, controlling for T1 symptoms) among veterans who reported below-average relationship strain only. Additionally, symptom accommodation was indirectly related to treatment response such that T1 accommodation predicted higher T2 PTSD symptom severity specifically through reduced homework completion, β = .01. The findings suggest that attending to accommodating behaviors of veterans' supportive partners may be an important way to boost both engagement in and response to TFTs for PTSD.

OBJECTIVE:This study estimated the size of therapist effects (TEs) for dropout and clinical effectiveness of two trauma-focused psychotherapies (TFPs) and evaluated whether therapy delivery and clinic organizational factors explained observed TEs. METHOD:Participants were 180 therapists (54.4% psychologists, 42.2% social workers) from 137 Veterans Health Administration facilities and 1,735 patients (24.7% women; 27.2% people of color) who completed at least two TFP sessions. Outcomes were dropout (< 8 TFP sessions) and for a subsample (n = 1,273), clinically meaningful improvement and recovery based on posttraumatic stress disorder checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) scores. Therapist-level predictors were ascertained through survey, manual chart review, and administrative data. Multilevel models estimated TEs. RESULTS:Over half (51.2%) of patients dropped out and those who dropped out were less likely to meet criteria for clinically meaningful improvement or recovery (ps < .001). Adjusting for case-mix and TFP type, therapists accounted for 5.812% (p < .001) of the unexplained variance in dropout. The average dropout rate for the 45 therapists in the top performing quartile was 27.0%, while the average dropout rate for the 45 therapists in the bottom performing quartile was 78.8%. Variation between therapists was reduced to 2.031% (p = .140) when therapists' mean of days between sessions, adherence, implementation climate, and caseload were added to multilevel models. TEs were nonsignificant for clinically meaningful improvement and recovery. CONCLUSIONS:Interventions targeting therapy delivery and clinic organization have the potential to reduce variation between therapists in TFP dropout, so that more patients stay engaged long enough to experience clinical benefit. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Posttraumatic stress disorder occurs in as many as one in five combat veterans and is associated with a host of negative, long-term consequences to the individual, their families, and society at large. Trauma-focused treatments, such as Prolonged Exposure, result in clinically significant symptom relief for many. Adherence to these treatments (i.e., session attendance and homework compliance) is vital to ensuring recovery but can be challenging for patients. Engaging families in veterans’ treatment could prove to be an effective strategy for promoting treatment adherence while also addressing long-standing calls for better family inclusion in treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. This paper describes the methods of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate if family inclusion in Prolonged Exposure can improve treatment adherence. One hundred fifty-six veterans, with clinically significant symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, will be randomized to receive either standard Prolonged Exposure or Prolonged Exposure enhanced through family inclusion (Family-Supported Prolonged Exposure) across three different VA facilities. Our primary outcomes are session attendance and homework compliance. Secondary outcomes include posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity, depression, quality of life, and relationship functioning. The study includes a concurrent process evaluation to identify potential implementation facilitators and barriers to family involvement in Prolonged Exposure within VA. While the importance of family involvement in posttraumatic stress disorder treatment is non-controversial, there is no evidence base supporting best practices on how to integrate families into PE or any other individually focused trauma-focused treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder. This study is an important step in addressing this gap, contributing to the literature for both retention and family involvement in trauma-focused treatments. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03256227 . Registered on August 21, 2017.

Background: The first goal of this study was to assess longitudinal changes in burnout among psychotherapists prior to (T1) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (T2). The second objective was to assess the effects of job demands, job resources (including organizational support for evidence-based psychotherapies, or EBPs) and pandemic-related stress (T2 only) on burnout.Method: Psychotherapists providing EBPs for posttraumatic stress disorder in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities completed surveys assessing burnout, job resources, and job demands prior to (T1; n = 346) and during (T2; n = 193) the COVID-19 pandemic.Results: Burnout prevalence increased from 40 % at T1 to 56 % at T2 (p < .001). At T1, stronger implementation climate and implementation leadership (p < .001) and provision of only cognitive processing therapy (rather than use of prolonged exposure therapy or both treatments; p < .05) reduced burnout risk. Risk factors for burnout at T2 included T1 burnout, pandemic-related stress, less control over when and how to deliver EBPs, being female, and being a psychologist rather than social worker (p < .02). Implementation leadership did not reduce risk of burnout at T2. Limitations: This study involved staff not directly involved in treating COVID-19, in a healthcare system poised to transition to telehealth delivery. Conclusion: Organizational support for using EBPs reduced burnout risk prior to but not during the pandemic. Pandemic related stress rather than increased work demands contributed to elevated burnout during the pandemic. A comprehensive approach to reducing burnout must address the effects of both work demands and personal stressors.

The present study examined whether certain Veterans Health Administration (VHA) therapists have more success than others in keeping patients engaged in evidence-based psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Our objective was to use multilevel modeling to quantify the variability between therapists in two indicators of patient engagement: early dropout (i.e., < 3 sessions) and adequate dose (i.e., ≥ 8 sessions). The phenomenon of systematic variability between therapists in patients' treatment experience and outcomes is referred to as "therapist effects." The sample included the 2,709 therapists who provided individual cognitive processing therapy (CPT) or prolonged exposure (PE) to 18,461 veterans with PTSD across 140 facilities in 2017. Data were extracted from administrative databases. For CPT, therapist effects accounted for 10.9% of the variance in early dropout and 8.9% of the variance in adequate dose. For PE, therapist effects accounted for 6.0% and 8.8% of the variance in early dropout and adequate dose, respectively. Facility only accounted for an additional 1.1%-3.1% of the variance in early dropout and adequate dose. For CPT, patients' odds of receiving an adequate dose almost doubled, OR = 1.41/0.72 = 1.96, if they were seen by a therapist in the highest compared with the lowest retention decile. For PE, the odds of a patient receiving an adequate dose were 84% higher, OR = 1.38/0.75 = 1.84, when treated by a therapist in the highest compared with the lowest retention decile. Therapist skills and work environment may contribute to variability across therapists in early dropout and adequate dose.

Objective: One in 3 veterans will dropout from trauma-focused treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Social environments may be particularly important to influencing treatment retention. We examined the role of 2 support system factors in predicting treatment dropout: social control (direct efforts by loved ones to encourage veterans to participate in treatment and face distress) and symptom accommodation (changes in loved ones' behavior to reduce veterans' PTSD-related distress). Method: Veterans and a loved one were surveyed across 4 VA hospitals. All veterans were initiating prolonged exposure therapy or cognitive processing therapy (n = 272 dyads). Dropout was coded through review of VA hospital records. Results: Regression analyses controlled for traditional, individual-focused factors likely to influence treatment dropout. We found that, even after accounting for these factors, veterans who reported their loved ones encouraged them to face distress were twice as likely to remain in PTSD treatment than veterans who denied such encouragement. Conclusions: Clinicians initiating trauma-focused treatments with veterans should routinely assess how open veterans' support systems are to encouraging veterans to face their distress. Outreach to support networks is warranted to ensure loved ones back the underlying philosophy of trauma-focused treatments.

Objective: To examine whether dropout from prolonged exposure (PE) therapy can be predicted from demographic and outcomes data that would typically be available to clinicians. Methods: Dropout was examined in 2,606 patients treated by clinicians in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration PE Training Program. PE typically consists of 8-15 sessions, with 8 sessions being considered a minimum therapeutic dose for most patients. Logistic regression was used to assess the impact of demographics, depression, trauma history, and PE target trauma on risk for dropout. Growth mixture modeling was used to study how posttraumatic stress disorder symptom patterns during the first 5 treatment encounters predicted dropout. Results: In total, 782 patients (30.0%) completed fewer than 8 sessions of PE. Younger veterans were more likely to drop out of PE; odds ratio (OR) per year of age = 0.97, p <.01. Controlling for other factors, veterans who focused on childhood trauma were less likely to drop out than those focusing on combat trauma (OR = 0.51, p <.05). Dropout was unrelated to symptom course or symptom worsening between sessions. Nevertheless, clinicians attributed dropout to distress or avoidance in 45% of the patients who dropped out, citing other factors in 37% of dropout cases. Conclusions: Treatment dropout was predicted by age but not by initial symptom severity or symptom course early in treatment. Symptom exacerbation was rare and did not increase risk of dropout. Nonetheless, clinicians often attributed dropout to patients not tolerating PE.

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure therapy (PE) for PTSD at all of its facilities, but little is known about systematic differences between patients who do and do not initiate these treatments. VA administrative data were analyzed for 6,251 veterans receiving psychotherapy over one year in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) specialty clinics at nine VA medical centers. CPT and PE were initiated by 2,173 (35%) patients. Veteran's probability of initiating either CPT or PE (considered together) was 29% lower (adjusted odds ratio = .61) if they had a psychiatric hospitalization within the same year, and 15% lower (AOR = .78) if they had service-connected disability for PTSD. Veteran's probability of starting CPT or PE was 19% lower (AOR = .74) if they were Hispanic or Latino, 10% lower (AOR = .84), if they were male rather than female, and 9% lower (AOR = .87) if they were divorced, separated or widowed rather than currently married. Probability of receiving CPT or PE was also lower if verans had more co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses (AOR per diagnosis = .88), were older (AOR per every five years = .95), or lived further away from the VA clinic (AOR per every ten miles = .98). Nonetheless, most patients initiating CPT or PE had two or more comorbidities and were service-connected for PTSD. Observed gender, age and ethnic differences in initiation of CPT and PE appear unrelated to clinical suitability and warrant further study.

OBJECTIVEIt has been over a decade since the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began formal dissemination and implementation of two trauma-focused evidence-based psychotherapies (TF-EBPs). The objective of this study was to examine the sustainability of the TF-EBPs and determine whether team functioning and workload were associated with TF-EBP sustainability.METHODSThis observational study used VA administrative data for 6,251 patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and surveys from 78 providers from 10 purposefully selected PTSD clinical teams located in nine VA medical centers. The outcome was sustainability of TF-EBPs, which was based on British National Health System Sustainability Index scores (possible scores range from 0 to 100.90). Primary predictors included team functioning, workload, and TB-EBP reach to patients with PTSD. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine the influence of team functioning and workload on TF-EBP sustainability after adjustment for covariates that were significantly associated with sustainability.RESULTSSustainability Index scores ranged from 53.15 to 100.90 across the 10 teams. Regression models showed that after adjustment for patient and facility characteristics, team functioning was positively associated (B=9.16, p<.001) and workload was negatively associated (B=-.28, p<.05) with TF-EBP sustainability.CONCLUSIONSThere was considerable variation across teams in TF-EBP sustainability. The contribution of team functioning and workload to the sustainability of evidence-based mental health care warrants further study.

This study examined aspects of clinicians' work environment that facilitated sustained use of prolonged exposure (PE) therapy. Surveys were completed by 566 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinicians 6 and 18 months after intensive training in PE. The number of patients treated with PE at 18 months (reach) was modeled as a function of clinician demographics, clinician beliefs about PE, and work context factors. There were 342 clinicians (60.4%) who used PE at 6 and 18 months after training, 58 (10.2%) who used PE at 18 but not 6 months, 95 (16.7%) who used PE at 6 but not 18 months, and 71 (12.5%) who never adopted PE. Median reach was 12% of clinicians' appointments with patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. Reach was predicted by flow of interested patients (incident response ratio [IRR] = 1.21 to 1.51), PE's perceived effectiveness (IRR = 1.04 to 1.31), working in a PTSD specialty clinic (IRR = 1.06 to 1.26), seeing more patients weekly (IRR = 1.04 to 1.25), and seeing fewer patients in groups (IRR = 0.83 to 0.99). Most clinicians trained in PE sustained use of the treatment, but on a limited basis. Strategies to increase reach of PE should address organizational barriers and patient engagement.

Evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD are often underused. The objective of this mixed-method study was to identify organizational and clinic factors that promote high levels of reach of evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD 10 years into their dissemination throughout the Veterans Health Administration. We conducted 96 individual interviews with staff from ten outpatient PTSD teams at nine sites that differed in reach of evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD. Major themes associated with reach included clinic mission, clinic leader and staff engagement, clinic operations, staff perceptions, and the practice environment. Strategies to improve reach of evidence-based psychotherapies should attend to organizational and team-level factors.

Because suicide risk appears to be heightened with individuals who have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it is crucial that PTSD treatment providers assess for suicidal ideation and that, when mental health clinicians are working with a suicidal patient, they assess for PTSD. Evidence-based treatments for PTSD can significantly help those experiencing both PTSD and suicidality. Although co-occurring suicidality does not prohibit proceeding with these treatments, it does involve additional considerations in delivery of care. Good PTSD assessment involves both diagnostic interviewing and ongoing assessment via administration of self-report measures. A written safety plan should also be developed, actively engaging veterans and minimizing barriers to treatment. Once the decision is made to proceed with PTSD care, all treatments are implemented as usual with ongoing monitoring of suicidal ideation. Strong therapeutic rapport is a critical part of all evidence-based treatments for PTSD, as well as for effective response to suicide risk.

OBJECTIVE Evidence for treatment efficacy does not guarantee adoption in clinical practice. Attitudinal "buy-in" from clinicians is also important. This study examines evaluation data from a national training program in an evidence-based treatment for PTSD, Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy, to assess changes in clinician beliefs related to the importance of specific treatment goals, PE outcome expectations, self-efficacy to deliver PE, perceived time and emotional burdens associated with delivering PE, and intentions to use PE. METHOD Training included both an interactive workshop and posttraining telephone consultation. Participants were 943 licensed mental health clinicians who treated veterans with PTSD. They completed questionnaires before and after the workshop, and after consultation. RESULTS Results indicated that workshop participation was associated with significant increases in perceptions of the importance of helping patients improve by employing PE, expectations that patients would benefit from PE, and self-efficacy to deliver PE, and with reduced expectations of negative patient outcomes and concerns about distressing patients. The workshop alone had little impact on expected clinician emotional burden and no impact on anticipated time burden. Participation in ongoing case consultation was associated with additional increases in expected positive patient outcomes and clinician self-efficacy and further reductions in concerns about distressing patients and negative patient outcomes. Unlike the workshop, consultation was associated with decreased expectancies that PE would take too much time and would be emotionally burdensome to provide. CONCLUSION Overall, the results suggest that the combination of workshop and ongoing consultation can significantly improve beliefs likely to affect treatment adoption. (PsycINFO Database Record

Since 2006, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has instituted policy changes and training programs to support system-wide implementation of two evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To assess lessons learned from this unprecedented effort, we used PubMed and the PILOTS databases and networking with researchers to identify 32 reports on contextual influences on implementation or sustainment of EBPs for PTSD in VHA settings. Findings were initially organized using the exploration, planning, implementation, and sustainment framework (EPIS; Aarons et al. in Adm Policy Ment Health Health Serv Res 38:4–23, 2011). Results that could not be adequately captured within the EPIS framework, such as implementation outcomes and adopter beliefs about the innovation, were coded using constructs from the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, maintenance (RE-AIM) framework (Glasgow et al. in Am J Public Health 89:1322–1327, 1999) and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR; Damschroder et al. in Implement Sci 4(1):50, 2009). We highlight key areas of progress in implementation, identify continuing challenges and research questions, and discuss implications for future efforts to promote EBPs in large health care systems.

OBJECTIVE:To explore how factors such as major depressive disorder (MDD) and trauma history, including the presence of childhood abuse, influence diverse clinical outcomes such as severity and functioning in a sample with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).METHOD:In this study, 200 men and women seeking treatment for chronic PTSD in a clinical trial were assessed for trauma history and MDD and compared on symptom severity, psychosocial functioning, dissociation, treatment history, and extent of diagnostic co-occurrence.RESULTS:Overall, childhood abuse did not consistently predict clinical severity. However, co-occurring MDD, and to a lesser extent a high level of trauma exposure, did predict greater severity, worse functioning, greater dissociation, more extensive treatment history, and additional co-occurring disorders.CONCLUSION:These findings suggest that presence of co-occurring depression may be a more critical marker of severity and impairment than history of childhood abuse or repeated trauma exposure. Furthermore, they emphasize the importance of assessing MDD and its effect on treatment seeking and treatment response for those with PTSD.

Using smartphones in the provision of evidence-based psychotherapy holds tremendous potential for enhancing care. Mental health clinicians' perceptions of smartphone-delivered interventions will affect their decision to adopt these promising innovations. As a follow-up to our early study (Kuhn et al., 2014), here we investigated mental health clinicians' (N = 271) use of a patient-facing smartphone app for prolonged exposure (PE) therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder, called PE Coach. A Web-based survey assessed clinicians' perceptions of the app using diffusion of innovations constructs. Half of the sample practicing PE in the past year reported using PE Coach, with 93.6% intending to continue using it. For clinicians who did not use PE Coach, 77.6% intended to use it in the future. Perceptions of PE Coach were generally favorable regarding its relative advantage over current practices, compatibility with clinicians' values and needs, complexity, trialability, and observability. Younger clinicians (<40 years) had more favorable perceptions of the app's perceived complexity than did older clinicians (>= 40 years). Clinicians owning smartphones, relative to those not, had more favorable perceptions of compatibility, complexity, and trialability. PE Coach users, relative to nonusers, had more favorable perceptions across all constructs, except trialability. Finally, after controlling for number of PE patients seen in the past year, clinician age and perceived complexity of the app significantly predicted use of PE Coach. These findings suggest that clinicians are using PE Coach and have favorable perceptions of it, but enhanced dissemination efforts may be needed to increase adoption for certain clinician groups.

The authors examined the degree to which provider characteristics, such as profession, treatment orientation, prior experience in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), prior experience with prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, and attitudes about PE, were related to the clinical outcomes of veterans receiving care from clinicians participating in the national Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) PE Training Program. Positive patient outcomes were achieved by providers of every profession, theoretical orientation, level of clinical experience treating PTSD, and prior PE training experience. With 1,105 providers and 32 predictors (13 provider variables), power was at least 90% power to detect an effect of β = .15. Profession was the only provider characteristic significantly related to outcomes, but the mean effect (a 2 point difference on the PTSD Checklist) was too small to be clinically meaningful. The results support the intensive training model used in the VA PE training program and demonstrate that clinicians of varying backgrounds can be trained using interactive training workshops followed by case consultation to deliver PE effectively.

To examine how changes in beliefs during the training process predict adoption of prolonged exposure therapy (PE) by veterans health administration clinicians who received intensive training in this evidence-based treatment. Participants completed a 4-day PE workshop and received expert consultation as they used PE with two or more training cases. Participants were surveyed prior to the workshop, after the workshop, after case consultation (n = 1.034), and 6 months after training (n = 810). Hierarchical regression was used to assess how pre-training factors, and changes in beliefs during different stages of training incrementally predicted post-training intent to use PE and how many patients clinicians were treating with PE 6 months after training. Post-training intent to use PE was high (mean = 6.2, SD = 0.81 on a 1–7 scale), yet most participants treated only 1 or 2 patients at a time with PE. Pre-training factors predicted intent to use and actual use of PE. Changes in beliefs during the workshop had statistically significant yet modest effects on intent and use of PE. Changes in beliefs during case consultation had substantial effects on intent and actual use of PE. Pre-training factors and changes in beliefs during training (especially during case consultation) influence clinicians’ adoption of PE. Use of PE was influenced not only by its perceived clinical advantages/disadvantages, but also by contextual factors (working in a PTSD specialty clinic, perceived control over one’s schedule, and ability to promote PE to patients and colleagues).