Symposia
Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders and Disasters
Sarah B. Campbell, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist, PTSD Outpatient Clinic
VA Puget Sound Health Care System
Seattle, Washington
Catherine Wallace, PhD
Clinical Quality Supervisor
Lyra Health
Burlingame, California
Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense (VA/DoD) clinical practice guidelines for PTSD (2017) encourage incorporating loved ones into treatment. Moreover, veterans desire family involvement in care (Batten et al., 2009), and supportive relationships improve odds of engaging in mental health care for veterans with PTSD (Thompson‐Hollands et al., 2021). Still, veterans see their PTSD as a source of stress on their families, and caring for veterans with PTSD is linked to partners’ increased burden and decreased mental health (Caska & Renshaw, 2011), limiting their ability to offer effective support. Thus, providing support and psychoeducation to loved ones (LOs) of traumatized veterans is aligned with both VA best practices and veteran preferences. This study describes the iterative refinement, pilot feasibility/acceptability testing, and dissemination of a brief intervention for LOs of veterans with PTSD.
LOs of veterans with PTSD (n=181) attended “PTSD 101 for Family and Friends: A Support and Education Workshop” from 2014 - 2020. The single-session workshop was continually adapted based on stakeholder feedback, with content and skills training added. LOs rated their perceptions of the workshop from (1) to (5), with higher scores indicating more positive ratings. Open-ended questions were used to elicit ideas for improvement and descriptions of what was helpful, and data were reviewed using rapid analysis (Hamilton, 2013) to identify themes. Data were collected for quality improvement, and the study was approved as such by the facility Institutional Review Board.
LOs found the quality (M = 4.76; SD = .50) and relevance (M = 4.82; SD = .43) to be excellent, and noted they learned new information (M = 4.45; SD = .77). Sense of support, PTSD self-efficacy, and PTSD knowledge were also high (Ms = 4.41-4.95, SDs = .22-.77). Common themes among “helpful” elements of the workshop included 1) a sense of shared experience, 2) optimism, and 3) increased knowledge about dyadic effects of avoidance. Suggestions for improvement largely referenced logistics (e.g., longer sessions).
Following stakeholder feedback and workshop refinement in this quality improvement project, PTSD 101 for Family and Friends now represents a novel method for providing LOs with empirically supported psychoeducation, coping skills, and a sense of community. LOs reported favorably on support, self-efficacy, knowledge, and quality. We will discuss multi-site piloting and current dissemination as an “emerging best practice” by the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.