Online Emotional Regulation Group Treatment

This study will examine the feasibility of online delivery of emotional regulation training
to individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury who also have emotional dysregulation. 80
subjects with significant emotional dysregulation will be enrolled and will receive 24
60-minute emotional regulation sessions twice a week for 12 weeks, delivered online via a
group meeting software. Study participation will last 28 weeks: 4 weeks of baseline, 12
weeks of treatment (24 sessions) and 12 weeks of follow-up. Assessments will be conducted at
each of four timepoints: T1 (baseline), T2 (pre-treatment assessment), T3 (end-of-treatment
assessment) and T4 (follow-up assessment). In addition, a subset of the measures will be
administered bi-weekly for the duration of the study. Assessments will consist of a variety
of measures designed to measure executive functioning, problem solving skills, and quality
of life. All assessments will be completed online, using a web-based data collection.
Attendance and treatment compliance will be tracked, and outcomes will be monitored using
online data collection methods. Treatment satisfaction and participant subjective experience
(including technical difficulties that make access to web-delivered treatment impossible)
will also be assessed.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Documented TBI of any severity and being at least 6 months post injury

- Presence of executive dysfunction, manifested as self-reported difficulties with
emotional and behavioral self-regulation, operationalized as endorsement of 25% or
more of the symptoms on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS, Gratz &
Roemer, 2004).

- Currently aged 18 or older

- English speaking

- At least low average intellectual functioning, operationalized as a minimum Verbal IQ
score of 80 on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence

- Ownership of and relative facility with use of a computer, webcam, and microphone

- Access to a broadband internet connection at sufficiently high speed to allow
videoconference

Exclusion Criteria:

- DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of alcohol or substance abuse within past 6 months

- DSM-IV-TR of psychosis within past 6 months

- High suicidality, operationalized as a score of 17 or higher on the Mini
International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I., Sheehan et al., 2008)

Participation in this study will not preclude participation in other treatments.