PTSD
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the acceptability and efficacy of a self-guided behavioral health tool delivered by mobile app (called Renew) for people who are experiencing symptoms of posttraumatic stress. This study also aims to determine the necessity of coaching support over and above support from peers, shedding light on the critical question of level of support resources needed to maintain mHealth app engagement.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALRenew
Renew is a behavioral health self-management app/too that focuses on three core activities: 1) in vivo exposure (to help participants approach safe situations they have been avoiding that they want to feel comfortable in), 2) expressive writing (to help participants emotionally process trauma memories), and 3) Self-Care exercises (designed to promote behavioral activation, social connectedness and relaxation; includes a breathing relaxation tool). Users have access to psychoeducation via a whiteboard video and short texts as well as Motivation content (quotes, videos, images, and songs) related to confronting challenges and overcoming fears. For each exercise that is completed, the user earns points that are connected to levels and visually reinforcing images (i.e., a growing tree).
Sponsors
Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Veterans 18 years or older * own an Android smart phone (as the app is only available for Android) * self-report having experiencing symptoms of posttraumatic stress (defined as a PCL-5 score of 31 or higher).
Exclusion criteria
* None
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Post Traumatic Stress Disorder CheckList for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual - 5 (PCL-5; Weathers, et al., 2013) | Approximately 10-weeks after participant enrollment | Self report measure of PTSD symptoms. A total symptom severity score (range - 0-80) can be obtained by summing the scores for each of the 20 items. Higher scores indicate greater PTSD severity. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001) | Approximately 10-weeks after participant enrollment | Self report measure of depression symptoms. It is the 9-item measure that yields a total score of 0-27, with higher scores indicating greater depressive symptom severity. |
| A PTSD coping self-efficacy measure, developed following Bandura's (2006) guidelines | Approximately 10-weeks after participant enrollment | Self report measure of PTSD coping self-efficacy. It is a 10-item measure that yields a total score of 0-1000, with higher scores indicating greater coping self-efficacy. |
| Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, (1988) | Approximately 10-weeks after participant enrollment | Self report measure of perceived social support. It is a 12-item measure that yields a total score of 12-84, with higher scores indicating greater perceived social support. |
| Perceived helpfulness of Renew | Approximately 6-weeks after participant enrollment | Phone interview to assess perceived helpfulness of Renew. This is a qualitative measure. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed