Combat Stress, King's Centre for Military Health Research, Leatherhead, Surrey, UK.
J Telemed Telecare. 2020 Oct;26(9):552-559. doi: 10.1177/1357633X19850393. Epub 2019 Jun 17.
There remain a number of UK military veterans who are not able to access psychological therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some of these barriers are practical, including the need to balance work and other life commitments with attendance at residential or outpatient appointments. There is a need to investigate more accessible and flexible methods of delivering psychological therapies to veterans. One such alternative is to use remote-access video technology, often referred to as . The aims of the present study were to explore the feasibility of using tele-therapy in this population, whilst also reporting mental health outcomes for those who accessed the intervention.
Participants were recruited from a UK veterans mental health charity. The intervention consisted of 12 sessions of cognitive processing therapy delivered via Skype. Participants completed various measures of mental health, including PTSD at three time points: pre-treatment, post-treatment and at three months follow-up. A measure of therapeutic alliance was also completed by participants and the clinician.
A total of 27 participants engaged in tele-therapy, with a treatment completion rate of 79% and a 'did not attend' rate of 12%, which compared well against similar outpatient services. All mental health outcomes showed maintained improvement at three months follow-up, with the highest effect size recorded for PTSD. Therapeutic alliance was also rated highly by both participants and the clinician.
The findings suggest that tele-therapy could provide a viable alternative format for delivering trauma-focused psychological therapies to veterans. Limitations and recommendations for future research are also presented.
仍有许多英国退伍军人无法获得创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的心理治疗。这些障碍有些是实际存在的，包括需要平衡工作和其他生活承诺与参加住院或门诊预约。有必要研究更易获得和灵活的方法为退伍军人提供心理治疗。一种这样的替代方法是使用远程访问视频技术，通常称为. 本研究的目的是探讨在该人群中使用远程治疗的可行性，同时报告接受干预的人的心理健康结果。
参与者从英国退伍军人心理健康慈善机构招募。干预措施包括通过 Skype 提供 12 节认知加工疗法。参与者完成了各种心理健康测量，包括 PTSD 在三个时间点：治疗前、治疗后和三个月随访。参与者和临床医生还完成了治疗联盟的测量。
共有 27 名参与者接受了远程治疗，治疗完成率为 79%，“未出席”率为 12%，与类似的门诊服务相比表现良好。所有心理健康结果在三个月随访时均显示持续改善，PTSD 的效果量最高。参与者和临床医生也对治疗联盟给予了高度评价。
研究结果表明，远程治疗可能为向退伍军人提供以创伤为重点的心理治疗提供一种可行的替代格式。还提出了未来研究的局限性和建议。
