Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research, Bedford VA Medical Center.
The Social and Community Reintegration Research Program, Bedford VA Medical Center.
Psychol Serv. 2018 May;15(2):200-207. doi: 10.1037/ser0000180.
A randomized controlled pilot of supported education services was conducted with 33 Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn (OEF, OIF, OND, respectively) veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who had higher education goals. Veteran peers delivered supported education services to an intervention group; for the control group, peers provided "matched attention" of generalized support without supporting educational goals. The intervention was based on a manualized veteran-centric program of supported education using principles of supported employment for individuals living with mental illness and components of civilian models of supported education. The attrition rate was high, with 30% lost to services between the baseline screening and the first peer session, although this drop-out rate is comparable to other rehabilitation studies. Despite a small sample and a matched attention control that could have diluted possible effects, significant positive differences were found, with the intervention group spending greater amounts of time on educational activities than did the control group. Effect sizes for the impact of the intervention were large between Time 1 and Time 2, and moderately large between Time 2 and Time 3. PTSD-symptom severity and recovery attitudes did not predict the impact of the supported education intervention. Implementation of the veteran supported education program using veteran peers appears feasible, although assertive outreach may be necessary to recruit and engage veterans with PTSD. Findings suggest that supported education services can have a measurable effect on time spent attaining an educational goal. Future studies will need to be longitudinal, as well as attend to the attrition issue and capture the impact on other education outcomes, such as successful program completion. (PsycINFO Database Record
一项针对有高等教育目标的创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的持久自由行动、伊拉克自由行动和新黎明行动（OEF、OIF、OND）退伍军人的支持性教育服务的随机对照试点研究。退伍军人同伴向干预组提供支持性教育服务；对照组的同伴提供“匹配关注”的一般性支持，而不支持教育目标。干预措施基于一个以退伍军人为中心的、有组织的支持性教育计划，该计划采用了针对精神疾病患者的支持性就业原则和民用支持性教育模式的组成部分。失访率很高，有 30%的人在基线筛查和第一次同伴会议之间失去了服务，尽管这一辍学率与其他康复研究相当。尽管样本量较小，且对照组的匹配关注可能会削弱可能的效果，但仍发现了显著的积极差异，干预组在教育活动上花费的时间明显多于对照组。干预的影响效应大小在时间 1 和时间 2 之间较大，在时间 2 和时间 3 之间适中。PTSD 症状严重程度和康复态度并不能预测支持性教育干预的效果。使用退伍军人同伴实施退伍军人支持性教育计划似乎是可行的，尽管可能需要积极的外展来招募和吸引 PTSD 退伍军人。研究结果表明，支持性教育服务可以对实现教育目标所花费的时间产生可衡量的影响。未来的研究需要是纵向的，同时也要关注失访问题，并捕捉对其他教育成果的影响，如成功完成项目。
