Patient Participation Beliefs and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

This is an exploratory qualitative interview study being conducted with a primary objective
of examining perceptions held by active military and veterans regarding help-seeking
attitudes and mental health beliefs which influence the decision to consent or decline
participation in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
clinical trials. Active duty military and/or veterans aged 18 years and older who consent
to participate (N = 50), or have recently declined participation (N = 50), in an INTRuST
affiliated outpatient clinical trial for deployment-related PTSD or TBI will be recruited.
Participants who consent to participate in an INTRuST clinical trial (Group 1) will be
interviewed once at the beginning the of the clinical trial, and again following
participation in the trial. Participants who decline participation in an INTRuST affiliated
outpatient clinical trial (Group 2) will be interviewed once. For participants in both
groups, study participation will initiate within 1 month of referral to study. Total
duration of study participation is based on the specific clinical trial that the participant
is recruitment from; the longest trial is estimated to be 24 weeks or less. Semi-structured
qualitative individual interviews will be conducted to carry out a thematic analysis of the
data exploring familial, social and institution-level constructs which may influence the
subjective experience of the research treatment process.