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. 2013 Aug 26:4.
doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.21572. eCollection 2013.

Randomized controlled trial of a brief dyadic cognitive-behavioral intervention designed to prevent PTSD

Alain Brunet  1 , Isabeau Bousquet Des Groseilliers, Matthew J Cordova, Josef I Ruzek
Affiliations

Randomized controlled trial of a brief dyadic cognitive-behavioral intervention designed to prevent PTSD

Alain Brunet et al. Eur J Psychotraumatol. .

Abstract

Background: There is a dearth of effective interventions to prevent the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Method: We evaluated the efficacy of a brief dyadic two-session cognitive-behavioral intervention through a controlled trial involving trauma-exposed individuals recruited at the hospital's emergency room. Participants were randomly assigned to either the dyadic intervention group (n=37) or to a waiting list (assessment only) group (n=37).

Results: In an intent-to-treat analysis, a time-by-group interaction was found, whereby the treated participants had less PTSD symptoms at the post-treatment but not at the pre-treatment compared to controls. Controlling for the improvement observed in the control participants, the intervention yielded a net effect size of d=0.39.

Conclusions: A brief, early, and effective intervention can be provided by nurses or social workers in hospital settings, at a fairly low cost to individuals presenting to the emergency room as the result of trauma exposure.

Keywords: Canadians; Traumatic stress; cognitive-behavioral (CBT) interventions; motor vehicle accidents; secondary prevention.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of the study participants. Note. Several randomized participants were lost before baseline, most of them did not return their baseline symptom assessment and/or failed to find a time to meet the therapist in a timely manner. The intent to treat sample completed at least two symptom assessments and received at least one intervention session. Protocol violation in the control group entailed the following exclusion criteria : initiating trauma-related court litigation in one case and a loss of consciousness undiagnosed at the time of recruitment in two cases. Protocol violation in the intervention group entailed coming alone to the dyadic intervention and being diagnosed with a terminal illness during the study.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Self-reported mean PTSD symptom scores across time for the two study groups according the IES-R.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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