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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Kacie A. Kelly, MHS, National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Ave, 116B-3, Boston, MA 02130, 857-364-4873, kacie.kelly@va.gov

The number of veterans in need of PTSD treatment in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is rising due to ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afganistan. Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a short-term, evidence-based psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that has been shown to be efficacious for veterans with chronic PTSD (Monson C, et al., 2005). Although CPT is strongly recommended in the Veterans Health Administration /Department of Defense's (VHA/DoD) Clinical Practice Guidelines for PTSD, clinicians still do not report regular use of CPT in their practices (Rosen C, 2004). Given the rising number of veterans entering VHA in need of PTSD treatment, it is imperative to study barriers and facilitators to the adoption of CPT and other evidence-based therapies by VHA clinicians. The current project surveyed 218 VHA mental health clinicians to gain a better understanding of the attitudinal and logistical barriers involved in using evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD treatment. Only 43% of VHA clinicians believed veterans with PTSD can be successfully treated utilizing a manualized, evidence-based psychotherapy. Clinicians who identified cognitive-behavior therapy as their primary therapeutic orientation were significantly less likely to agree that “manual based treatments are too restrictive for VHA patients” when compared to clinicians endorsing any other theurapeutic orientation. However, no significant difference emerged among disciplines, age of clinician, or degree type regarding restrictiveness of these therapies. These results suggest that clinician's therapeutic orientation is a variable of primary importance when designing dissemination efforts.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Identify factors contributing to attitudinal barriers that exist among clinician adoption or resistance when disseminating evidence-based psychotherapies.
• Describe mental health clinicians’ perceptions evidence-based psychotherapies

Keywords: Mental Health System, Mental Health Services

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered