The aim of this treatment development research proposal is to adapt an existing psychosocial intervention, i.e., Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Group (IPT), for the treatment of low-income, predominantly minority women with current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) subsequent to interpersonal trauma (defined as the human-perpetrated violation of one's body through sexual or physical molestation, assault or abuse). This is a population and diagnosis for which IPT has not been experimentally applied or tested. We are focusing on low-income women because they are at high risk for exposure to such events as rape, sexual and physical abuse and battering and, once exposed, are unusually likely to develop PTSD. Despite their extreme vulnerability, this is a group that is unlikely to have access to any, let alone efficacious, services after victimization. The present proposal, which involves the identification and assessment of women at a public sector gynecology clinic who meet DSM-IV criteria for PTSD subsequent to interpersonal trauma, has four primary goals: 1) To develop and refine a treatment manual for IPT-Group for PTSD after interpersonal trauma; 2) To obtain outpatient randomized control pilot data on the clinical value of IPT-Group for PTSD to see if this method merits further investigation in a clinical trial; 3) To develop and implement a training procedure to teach experienced therapists to conduct the treatment according to the manual; and 4) To develop therapist adherence and competence measures for this treatment. To accomplish these aims, 35-45 public sector gynecology patients who meet criteria for current PTSD after interpersonal trauma will be randomly assigned to treatment or a wait-list control group. All treatments will be 4 months in duration and will have 6-8 patients and 2 therapists. All subjects will complete assessment batteries via interview (since some of the subjects may be illiterate) at intake, mid-therapy, termination and 4-month follow-up. After four-month follow-up, wait-list subjects who continue to meet study criteria will be invited to participate in an IPT group. All treatments will be closely monitored via audiotapes and supervision to further develop the treatment manual and adherence measure.
| Krupnick, Janice L; Green, Bonnie L; Stockton, Patricia et al. (2008) Group interpersonal psychotherapy for low-income women with posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychother Res 18:497-507 |
