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Computerized Intervention in Primary Care for Women Veterans with Sexual Assault Histories and Psychosocial Health Risks: a Randomized Clinical Trial.


ABSTRACT:

Importance

Sexual assault is a public health concern for women and is associated with subsequent psychosocial health risks of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hazardous drinking, and intimate partner violence (IPV). Sexual assault is associated with social stigma and other barriers shown to inhibit one from seeking mental health care. Digital health technologies may overcome these barriers.

Objective

To test the impact of a brief computerized intervention delivered in primary care to reduce health risks and increase mental health treatment utilization among women with histories of sexual assault and current health risks.

Design, setting, and participants

The Safe and Healthy Experiences (SHE) program was tested in a randomized controlled trial with N = 153 women veterans at a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical center, and they completed assessments at baseline, 2 months, and 4 months.

Intervention

SHE is a brief motivational interviewing and psychoeducation-based computerized intervention. SHE was compared to a screen and referral-only control condition.

Main measures

Health risks were measured via validated self-report instruments. Treatment initiation and utilization were measured via self-report and chart review.

Results

SHE did not impact women's number of health risks (all p's > .05). However, women randomized to SHE showed significantly greater increases in treatment use compared to women in the control group, as measured by chart review (χ2 (1, n = 153) = 4.38, p = .036, rs = .16), and self-report (χ2 (1, n = 130) = 5.89, p = .015, rs = .21). SHE was found to be an acceptable intervention.

Conclusions

SHE was effective in improving mental health treatment initiation and utilization compared to a control group. Computer-based interventions to address sexual trauma and its consequences are acceptable, are highly scalable, and can add value to primary care with little cost or increase in provider time.

Trial registration

Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT02957747.

SUBMITTER: Creech SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8971224 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Computerized Intervention in Primary Care for Women Veterans with Sexual Assault Histories and Psychosocial Health Risks: a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Creech Suzannah K SK   Pulverman Carey S CS   Kahler Christopher W CW   Orchowski Lindsay M LM   Shea M Tracie MT   Wernette Golfo Tzilos GT   Zlotnick Caron C  

Journal of general internal medicine 20210519 5


<h4>Importance</h4>Sexual assault is a public health concern for women and is associated with subsequent psychosocial health risks of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hazardous drinking, and intimate partner violence (IPV). Sexual assault is associated with social stigma and other barriers shown to inhibit one from seeking mental health care. Digital health technologies may overcome these barriers.<h4>Objective</h4>To test the impact of a brief computerized intervention delivered in primary  ...[more]

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