Internet treatment for PTSD in IAPT (OVERCOME-PTSD)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study of the implementation of Internet-based Cognitive Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder within NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services.
IRAS ID
292312
Contact name
Anke Ehlers
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford / Clinical Trials and Research Governance
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 8 days
Research summary
Research summary:
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common and disabling mental health problem. Trauma-focused Cognitive Therapy (TF-CT), developed by our Oxford group, is one of the first-line treatment recommendations for PTSD by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and various international treatment guidelines. TF-CT is one of the standard treatments for PTSD provided in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services and the outcomes achieved are publicly reported on a monthly and annual basis by NHS Digital.In its usual format, TF-CT is delivered in 90-minute in-person sessions once a week over a period of 3 months. However, in two recent studies we were able to show that an internet-based version of the therapy (iCT-PTSD), which requires much less therapist time to support patients, is similarly effective. There is now strong interest in having iCT-PTSD available in multiple IAPT services with patient support being provided by the therapists in those services. This interest is particularly strong given the impact of COVID-19 and the critical importance of ‘remote’ treatment options.
However, it is important to manage and monitor this implementation carefully. For the initial stage we will therefore make the programme available to a subset of services and will provide their therapists with training in how to use iCT-PTSD. This study will examine whether IAPT therapists trained by our group can consistently obtain good results when using iCT-PTSD, and that both patients and clinicians find the programme acceptable to use.
Approximately 30 therapists from ten IAPT services will receive a two-day training in how to support patients working through iCT-PTSD. They will then treat a minimum of 12 patients each over the next 18 months while receiving regular clinical supervision from our research team.
Lay summary of study results:
PPost-traumatic stress disorder is caused by extremely frightening or distressing events. Research shows that PTSD can be effectively treated with psychological treatments. However, many people with PTSD are currently unable to access effective treatments for a range of reasons such as living too far away from treatment centres or being unable to attend during usual working hours. Online treatment programmes that patients can access at a time and place available to them, remotely guided by a therapist, may be a promising alternative to face-to-face treatment. A therapist-assisted internet-delivered version of cognitive therapy for PTSD, a NICE-recommended first-line treatment for PTSD, was shown to be highly effective in a randomised controlled trial. This study investigated whether these treatments achieved similarly good results when delivered in routine clinical care by clinicians working in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services (now called NHS talking therapies for anxiety and depression services). Thirty-one therapists working in 11 IAPT services and 196 patients with PTSD participated in the study. On average, patients experiences very large improvements in symptoms of PTSD, depression and anxiety with the internet-delivered treatment that were similar to those found in the randomised controlled trial and reported high satisfaction with treatment. The recovery rate was 67%.REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/PR/0103
Date of REC Opinion
18 Feb 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion