Testing the Effectiveness of a Therapist-Assisted Self-Management Program for Veterans Who Finished PTSD Therapy
Key facts
- Who runs it
- VA Office of Research and Development
- Where
- Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbia, Durham, Hines, Minneapolis, Sepulveda, and Tampa, United StatesSee the 8 sites
- Trial code
- Status
- Completed
- People taking part
- 80 people enrolled
- Started
- 16 Oct 2023
- Ended
- 23 Mar 2026
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets an existing treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- EMPOWER
- Treatment As Usual
- Record updated
- 8 April 2026
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Cannot take part
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 2 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Patients will be eligible to participate if they:; complete a course of individually-delivered TFT with a study therapist at a participating site; experience a clinically meaningful change in PTSD symptomology; at the time of enrollment (in either the TAU or EMPOWER arm), are not planning to initiate another weekly psychotherapy for PTSD for another mental or psychosocial condition within 3 months; are willing to receive to either arm; provide informed consent
Who cannot take part
- Patients will be excluded if they report suicidal ideation that requires clinical monitoring at baseline
Where in United States
- Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, ILChicago, United States
- Cincinnati VA Medical Center, Cincinnati, OHCincinnati, United States
- Wm. Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center, Columbia, SCColumbia, United States
- Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NCDurham, United States
- Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, ILHines, United States
- Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MNMinneapolis, United States
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Sepulveda, CASepulveda, United States
- James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, FLTampa, United States
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Patients who complete prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy, the treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the most empirical support, continue to express a need for mental health treatment. A therapist-assisted self-management program for patients who have completed one of these two treatments and achieved symptom improvement has the potential to meet patients' stated treatment needs, maintain or build upon their PTSD symptom reductions, increase their confidence in managing their symptoms, and reduce the number of mental health appointments that they need to attend. Further, reducing the number if mental health sessions attended by completers of these time and resource intensive psychotherapies will increase the likelihood that their implementation in regular-practice clinics will be maintained.
The 2 groups in the trial
- EMPOWERTreatment being tested
The goals of EMPOWER are to increase patients' self-efficacy for managing their PTSD, enable the maintenance or building upon gains made in TFT through the continued application of TFT skills, and encourage engagement in meaningful life activities. The program includes a Veteran workbook and four planned therapist contacts over the twelve weeks following TFT completion. The intervention includes: self-monitoring of symptoms, continued practice of TFT skills, engagement in meaningful activities, goal setting, and therapist support.
- Treatment As UsualExisting treatment, for comparison
The comparison condition will be TAU following completion of TFT. In the spirit of TAU, providers will not be restricted in the type or intensity of services offered. Depending on local clinic policy or norms, providers randomized to TFT may provide post-TFT treatment themselves or Veterans may be referred to other providers and/or back to the clinician who referred the Veteran to TFT. If providers would have typically discharged Veterans following TFT, that is also allowable.
Data and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Empowering Veterans to Self-Manage PTSD Symptoms Following Completion of Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Record updated
- 8 April 2026