Evaluation and Treatment of Substance Abuse in Veterans With PTSD Disability Claims (SBIRT-PTSD)

Evaluation and Treatment of Substance Use in Veterans With PTSD Disability Claims

Veterans can apply for compensation and pension (C & P) benefits for a disability related to military service. The application exam for these benefits provides an opportunity for Veterans returning from service to access VA care. The investigators will recruit Veterans applying for C & P to participate in this study. All enrolled participants will complete questionnaires around the time of their C & P exam related to substance abuse, PTSD, service use, and attitudes. The investigators will monitor enrolled Veterans' attendance at treatment over time, and examine whether C & P award, substance use, and beliefs about benefits are related to treatment attendance. Some enrolled participants will be assigned to one of two study groups: a treatment group and a no-additional-treatment group. People assigned to these groups will complete the same substance abuse, PTSD, service use, and attitudes questionnaires two additional times during the study. Participants assigned to the treatment group will receive information about the relationship between substance use and PTSD and will be referred to relevant treatment. The investigators will test whether Veterans who receive no-additional-treatment have different symptoms over time and attend less treatment sessions (mental health or substance abuse) than people assigned to treatment.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Attendance at Treatment; PTSD, Substance Use, and Attendance at Treatment
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: SBIRT

Detailed Description

The Compensation examination that determines if a Veteran is entitled to any disability payments related to military service is a crucial gateway to accessing VA care for returning OEF/OIF Veterans. However, researchers and oversight agencies have noted that examiners typically do not have guidelines for evaluating comorbid conditions like substance abuse and for referring patients to treatment.

In the Evaluative Component of this study, OEF/OIF Veterans presenting for Compensation evaluations for PTSD will be approached to undergo a paid battery of confidential substance use, PTSD, service use and attitude assessments prior to their scheduled Compensation examinations. The batteries will be collected again twice, four and twelve weeks after the Compensation examinations. Long-term follow-up data will be extracted from VA databases including diagnoses, the results of the Veterans' Compensation evaluations, award determination, use of VA services and attendance at mental health and/or substance abuse treatment.

In the Clinical Trial Component of this study, one hundred sixty Veterans identified during the baseline evaluation as having a substance use disorder will be randomly assigned to a session of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) or to No-Additional-Treatment. SBIRT is an approach to identifying and treating patients with substance abuse issues who are presenting for purposes other than substance abuse treatment. It involves Motivational Interviewing, which has been a consistently effective approach to facilitating engagement in substance abuse treatment in Veterans (Davis, Baer et al. 2003) and other populations. The study will examine factors associated with attendance at treatment including substance use, Veterans' beliefs about benefits, and compensation award. Group comparisons will be conducted on rates of treatment attendance, alcohol use, and PTSD symptoms.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 346
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Connecticut
    • West Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06516
      • VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus, West Haven, CT
  • Tennessee
    • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37212-2637
      • Tennessee Valley Healthcare System Nashville Campus, Nashville, TN

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Veteran of OEF or OIF,
• Not currently receiving VBA Compensation for PTSD,
• Able to participate psychologically and physically, able to give informed consent and complete, assessments, and participate in study procedures
• Between the ages of 18-65 years old.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Will not be able to attend the week 4 or 12 appointment because of anticipated incarceration or move

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: SBIRT; The SBIRT-VA manual codifies basic substance abuse screening, treatment, Motivational Interviewing and referral procedures. It is designed for providers with minimal substance abuse expertise and is easy for experienced substance abuse providers to deliver. Study sessions include identifying the Veterans' values through a card sort, the change ruler, on which the Veteran rates his/her willingness to change current behavior, listing the pros and cons of changing.	Behavioral: SBIRT; SBIRT Therapy overview-; Therapist explains purpose of the therapy.; Inquiry about Compensation examination-ask if Veteran has questions about determination process and address concerns.; Discuss relationship between PTSD and substance use- long-term substance use is a form of avoidance and barrier to recovery.; Discuss treatment needs, administer screening, provide feedback.
No Intervention: No additional treatment; Veterans assigned to the control condition will not receive any study-related therapy. A Veteran who completes a Compensation examination ordinarily has no further treatment, referral, or debriefing as part of the Compensation examination.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Treatment Attendance by Treatment Group Over Time	Mean number of weeks of substance abuse and/or mental health treatment attended (as measured by the Electronic Medical Record) by treatment group over time	4 weeks pre-baseline through week 12 post baseline, total of 16 Weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Substance Use by Treatment Group Over Time	Mean days self-reported risky drug or alcohol use	4 weeks pre-baseline through week 12 post baseline, total of 16 Weeks
Mean PTSD Severity Score	Measure on Clinical Assessment of PTSD Severity (CAPS IV) rating scale (range 0-136, higher is more severe symptoms).	12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development
• Collaborators: Yale University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Jankowski RL, Black AC, Lazar CM, Brummett BR, Rosen MI. Consideration of substance use in compensation and pension examinations of veterans filing PTSD claims. PLoS One. 2019 Feb 6;14(2):e0210938. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210938. eCollection 2019.
• Black AC, Meshberg-Cohen S, Perez-Ortiz AC, Thornhill TA, Rosen MI. Veterans' compensation claims beliefs predict timing of PTSD treatment use relative to compensation and pension exam. PLoS One. 2018 Dec 27;13(12):e0209488. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209488. eCollection 2018.
• Meshberg-Cohen S, Kachadourian L, Black AC, Rosen MI. Relationship between substance use and attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help among veterans filing PTSD claims. Addict Behav. 2017 Nov;74:9-12. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.05.024. Epub 2017 May 23.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 18, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 30, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 10, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 11, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): May 14, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 27, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 10, 2020
• Last Verified: January 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: IIR 11-091

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No