Staying Connected: Trauma Center to Tribal Community Linkage for Physically Injured American Indian Patients

American Indian and Alaska Native Health Disparities Staying Connected: Trauma Center to Tribal Community Linkage for Physically Injured American Indian Patients

The purpose of this study is to provide American Indian trauma patients, treated at the Harborview Level 1 urban trauma center, compassionate and culturally sensitive care and to link them to care in their distant tribal communities. The specific aims include 1) interview Native healers to gather information on culture-specific aspects of recovery from traumatic injury and on linking care to tribal communities, 2) conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the intervention. The investigators hypothesize that intervention patients will demonstrate greater improvement than controls in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, functioning, diagnoses, and fewer new injuries during the 6 months after the index injury.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Injuries
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Staying Connected

Detailed Description

American Indians are at a greater risk for traumatic life events than the general population and compared to Whites they have a 2.04 (95% CI 1.11, 3.54) fold increased risk of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Among more than 2,900 injured trauma survivors treated at 69 hospitals nationwide, American Indians had the highest risk of all racial/ethnic groups of developing symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD 12 months after injury. Similarly, among 269 traumatically injured patients hospitalized at 2 level 1 trauma centers in the Western U.S., PTSD and peritraumatic dissociative symptoms were significantly more frequent among American Indians compared to Whites.

Nine percent of 6,000 injured trauma survivors admitted annually to the Harborview Level 1 trauma center are American Indian. Approximately 40 percent of these patients live more than 50 miles from the trauma center, including tribal communities in Eastern Washington and the Olympic Peninsula. Through prior work, researchers have found that care management interventions can reduce PTSD symptoms among diverse injured urban patients. Investigators from the Center of Excellence suggest that American Indian trauma survivors may have unique culture-specific idioms for posttraumatic distress (e.g. "wounded spirit"), and that trauma interventions with indigenous approaches may be productively applied to patients suffering from posttraumatic distress.(5)

In an effort to reduce the risk of PTSD and other general symptoms of trauma among American Indians, we plan to conduct a pilot study to develop and evaluate an American Indian culture specific care management intervention, Staying Connected.

Based on the Trauma Survivors and Support Study (TSOS), the purpose of Staying Connected is to provide American Indian trauma patients, treated at the Harborview Level 1 urban trauma center, compassionate and culturally sensitive care and to link them to care in their distant tribal communities. The specific aims include 1) interview Native healers to gather information on culture-specific aspects of recovery from traumatic injury and on linking care to tribal communities, 2) conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the intervention. We hypothesize that intervention patients will demonstrate greater improvement than controls in PTSD symptoms, depression, functioning, diagnoses, and fewer new injuries during the 6 months after the index injury.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 30
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98104
      • Harborview Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Harborview trauma patient 18 years or older
2. self identify as American Indian or Alaska Native
3. speak English

Exclusion Criteria:

1. non-American Indian or Alaska Native status reported
2. monolingual non-English speaking status
3. age < 18 years
4. old head, spinal cord or other injuries that prevent participation in the interview
5. any self-inflicted injury, active psychosis, mania, and victims of intimate partner violence who require immediate intervention
6. currently incarcerated patients or a recent history of severe violence which will likely yield criminal charges

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Staying Connected: Care Management; The intervention combines case management, psychopharmacological and culturally appropriate and individually tailored trauma support activities with evidence-based treatments.A key feature is the provision of a continuous healing relationship by a care management treatment team.The care manager, informed by the Native healer interviews, will provide a culturally appropriate and ongoing helping relationship to each intervention patient in the weeks and months post-injury and will remain in close contact with the trauma survivor subject for 6 months.Together, the care manager and trauma survivor subject will work on a plan to readjust to daily activities. The care management team will also coordinate psychopharmacological interventions for PTSD and related co-morbidities with primary care and or other community providers.

Behavioral: Staying Connected; The overarching goal of the Staying Connected intervention is to establish a compassionate and culturally sensitive treatment trajectory that diminishes posttraumatic suffering by reducing symptomatic distress, improving functional recovery, and reducing the risk of injury recurrence. This trajectory begins with surgical treatment and extends through outpatient care and community rehabilitation. The collaborative care intervention fundamentally restructures the delivery of mental health care within trauma care systems by bringing together providers currently working independently to form an interdisciplinary mental health team. Team members work together and in a liaison capacity with other trauma center providers and community practitioners in order to bridge care across service delivery sectors.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms assessed by a PCL score	Six months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Depression, Composite International Diagnostic Interview and alcohol abuse/dependence	Six months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Washington
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Doug Zatzick, MD, University of Washington

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: June 1, 2009
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2010
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 9, 2009
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 10, 2009
• First Posted (Estimate): July 13, 2009

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): June 20, 2012
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 19, 2012
• Last Verified: June 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Injuries, Trauma
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Wounds and Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: 35970-C; P60 MD0005-07