Clinical trial NCT03364192: Peer-Delivered Whole Health Coaching for Veterans With PTSD
Official title: Peer-Delivered Whole Health Coaching to Improve Recovery in Veterans With PTSD
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: PTSD
Keywords: Whole Health Coaching
Integrative Health Coaching
Peer Support Specialist
Personalized Health Plan
Lead sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development
Sponsor class: FED
Collaborators: name: US Department of Veterans Affairs
First posted: 2017-12-06
Enrollment: 28
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Intervention model description: All participants will receive peer-delivered Whole Health Coaching but the start date will be randomized between 4 and 13 weeks from initiation of the study.
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: The investigators are evaluating a service called peer-delivered Whole Health Coaching to understand how it can help Veterans with PTSD. This project has two main goals: (1) determine how peer-delivered Whole Health Coaching can help Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and (2) learning about feasibility of implementing this service in Veterans Health Administration primary care settings. The investigators are also evaluating feasibility of the research methods in this trial to learn how to improve future studies on this topic.

Whole Health Coaching is a service designed to improve health and wellness. It is a variation of integrative health coaching and is being used in Veterans Health Administration medical centers. In Whole Health Coaching, Veterans will work with coaches to develop a personal health mission, develop specific goals and action steps, and then adjust their plan as needed. Coaches provide guidance and support throughout the process. In this project, a peer support specialist working in primary care will be the coach. VA Peer Support Specialists, "peers", are Veterans recovering from a mental health condition trained to help other Veterans improve their health.

All participants will receive peer-delivered Whole Health Coaching. Participants will be randomly assigned a start date for their first session with the Peer Whole Health Coach between 4 and 13 weeks after they start the study. The information provided during this time prior to the first session helps us understand how participants do on their own without the service. The research components include interviews and questionnaires about health and wellness, goals, and experiences with the service. Veterans who participate in the study will complete short questionnaires twice a week for 6 months and have four longer appointments where more questions will be asked. Participants will also be given the opportunity to provide feedback on the service.

Detailed description: The investigators are evaluating a service called peer-delivered Whole Health Coaching to understand how it can help Veterans with PTSD. This project has two main goals: (1) determine how peer-delivered Whole Health Coaching can help Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and (2) learning about feasibility of implementing this service in Veterans Health Administration primary care settings. The investigators are also evaluating feasibility of the research methods in this trial to learn how to improve future studies on this topic.

Whole Health Coaching is a service designed to improve health and wellness. It is a variation of integrative health coaching and is being used in Veterans Health Administration medical centers. In Whole Health Coaching, Veterans will work with coaches to develop a personal health mission, develop specific goals and action steps, and then adjust their plan as needed. Coaches provide guidance and support throughout the process. In this project, a peer support specialist working in primary care will be the coach. VA Peer Support Specialists, "peers", are Veterans recovering from a mental health condition trained to help other Veterans improve their health.

All participants will receive peer-delivered Whole Health Coaching. Participants will be randomly assigned a start date for their first session with the Peer Whole Health Coach between 4 and 13 weeks after they start the study. The information provided during this time prior to the first session helps us understand how participants do on their own without the service. The research components include interviews and questionnaires about health and wellness, goals, and experiences with the service. Veterans who participate in the study will complete short questionnaires twice a week for 6 months and have four longer appointments where more questions will be asked. Participants will also be given the opportunity to provide feedback on the service.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Veteran status
* Enrolled in primary care at the Syracuse VA (and affiliated CBOCs) and seen in primary care within the past year
* Probable PTSD defined as screening positive for a Criterion A event and PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) score 33

Exclusion Criteria:

* Unable to communicate in spoken and written English
* Gross cognitive impairment
* Current symptoms of mania/psychosis
* At risk for suicide
* Engaged in psychotherapy in a non-primary care setting
* Changes to psychotropic medications for PTSD within the last 2 months
* Preference for direct referral to specialty mental healthcare

Primary outcomes:
measure: Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS)
timeFrame: Participants completed GAS twice weekly throughout the entire 24 week study period and scores were compared over time.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5)
timeFrame: Participants completed the PCL-5 at baseline, pre-treatment, post-treatment, and final follow-up assessments over the course of the 24 week study period.
measure: Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning (IPF)
timeFrame: Participants completed the IPF at baseline, pre-treatment, post-treatment, and final follow-up assessments over the course of the 24 week study period.
measure: Client Satisfaction Questionnaire
timeFrame: 8 weeks following intervention onset
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Syracuse
country: United States
facility: Syracuse VA Medical Center, Syracuse, NY
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: Syracuse VA Medical Center, Syracuse, NY
name: Emily Johnson, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: