The Effects of Home-Based Telemental Health for Rural Veterans With PTSD

The Office of Rural Health has funded the VA Pacific Islands Healthcare System (VAPIHCS) to
provide HBTMH for rural veterans diagnosed by a mental health provider as having PTSD.
VAPIHCS serves an area about the size of the continental United States. Outside of Honolulu,
there are few mental health specialists to serve Veterans with PTSD and common comorbid
disorders, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), pain, insomnia, and substance abuse.
Moreover, many such Veterans have difficulty following-up for services at Community-Based
Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) due to psychological or physical limitations, transportation, work
schedule, or stigma.

Cost is another reason to develop a HBTMH approach. Seventy percent of those who complete a
course of Evidence Based Therapy (EBT) significantly improve their symptoms, with most no
longer carrying the diagnosis following such treatments (Bradley, Greene, Russ, Dutra, &
Westen, 2005). However those who lack access to EBTs, especially those with polytraumas, have
a low chance of recovery (Elhers & Clark, 2008; Lyons & Keane, 1992). The lack of specialists
in these regions means that the Veterans continue to suffer with PTSD and related disorders
far longer than if specialized care were available. Sending experts to these areas is costly,
and inefficient. The cost and difficulty for highly rural Veterans to travel for weekly
appointments to a CBOC that lacks expertise in EBT for PTSD and treating Veterans with
polytrauma has minimal value. Finally, the no-show rate for such Veterans can run well above
15%, whereas research with HBTMH has no-show rates of less than 4%
(http://conference.avapl.org/pubs/2012%20Conference%20Presentations/HBTMH%20SOP_Shore_11-12-1
1%20copy.pdf)

To improve services for Veterans, the VA provides telehealth options at its CBOC locations in
the Pacific Islands. Many patients live too far from the CBOC or prefer to receive mental
health treatment in the comfort of their own homes. HBTMH technology, such as televideo
sessions between a home-based patient and their mental healthcare provider, has been
successfully implemented in the VA (e.g. throughout VISN 20 and VISN 7) and in the Department
of Defense (DOD). VAPIHCS was funded by the ORH to provide evidence-based specialty treatment
via HBTMH to rural Veterans with PTSD who would not otherwise have such treatment available
to them. The clinical project is funded to provide up to 100 rural patients who were referred
by their CBOC providers to this specialty clinic for HBTMH PTSD treatment. This VAPIHCS
clinic provides evidence-based treatment to eligible veterans in their homes via televideo by
clinicians currently based at the NCPTSD. Only ORH-funded VAPIHCS clinical staff will provide
treatment to the PTSD patients who choose to and are eligible to receive the home-based
telemental health. Veterans are eligible for this VAPIHCS-HBTMH clinic if they have been
diagnosed with PTSD by a licensed mental health provider at a CBOC, or are referred by a CBOC
(via clinical consult).

In order to initially evaluate the effectiveness of HBTMH, the current research study will
evaluate veterans participating in the VAPIHCS-HBTMH clinic compared to Treatment as Usual
(TAU - those who were referred to the clinic, however either refused to participate in this
type of clinical care or were ineligible to be part of this clinic due to structural
difficulties (no 4G in their area, can't type, lack of nearby emergency services, etc). Thus,
this protocol is assessment only, and is separate from the treatment provided to the rural
Veterans.

Currently, there are no standardized, objective assessments available for determining
impairment and improvement of PTSD. The Defense Automated Neurobehavioral Assessment (DANA)
is a clinical decision support tool developed for the Department of Defense (DoD) for field
and clinic-based neurobehavioral functioning. This neurobehavioral assessment system was
developed on the assumption that various risk factors (PTSD, Depression, Insomnia, anger,
pain, etc.) lead to significantly slower and less accurate (throughput) performance on
cognitive tests. The primary goal of DANA is to assist providers in determining level of
functioning and to track recovery over time. An important purpose of this study is to collect
longitudinal data from patients receiving EBT (both in clinics and through HBTMH) in order to
assess whether cognitive functioning improves as PTSD symptoms decrease with treatment. This
information will provide support for DANA's validity as an objective measure of PTSD
impairment. The study also plans to determine the sensitivity and specificity of DANA
neurocognitive measures in determining changes in cognitive functioning within PTSD patients
engaged in EBT over time.

The proposed project aims to examine the effectiveness of an empirically based trauma-focused
treatment intervention delivered via video conferencing to the home. This project aims to:

Objective 1: Examine the feasibility of HBTMH compared to treatment as usual.

Objective 2: Compare the effectiveness of HBTMH compared to treatment as usual.

Objective 3: Determine predictors of successful treatment outcomes (including treatment
completion and clinically significant reduction in PTSD and related symptoms).

Objective 4: Determine the sensitivity and specificity of Defense Automated Neurobehavioral
Assessment (DANA) neurocognitive measures in determining changes in psychological functioning
within subjects over time.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Participants must have a referral to the HBTMH Clinic or VA clinic for PTSD treatment
as well as:

1. ability to use a keyboard

2. the ability to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the study and willingness
to participate

3. comfort using a tablet device and the Internet, or willingness to learn

4. have agreed to return the tablet and headset after the study (TAU and HBTMH-only)

5. adequate (or corrected) vision and hearing

6. ability to read and write at an 8th grade level or higher.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. clinical disqualification (current psychosis, active homicidal or suicidal intent or
within the past six months)

2. significant cognitive impairment as determined by inability to sufficiently comprehend
the study goals, risks and benefits.

- To determine this, potential research participants will be asked to summarize the
study as explained to them and as presented by the Study Fact Sheet/Consent Form
as applicable.