Abstract
Military veterans’ stigmatized views on mental disorders and traditional mental health care considerably reduce veterans’ access to mental health services. The present study aimed to refine a previously developed non-stigmatizing smartphone-app intervention based on the principles of acceptance and commitment therapy for college student veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To this end, we tested the acceptability of the developed prototype using a mixed-method study design. A total of nine student veterans participated in the study by using the app intervention and completing pre-post study measures and a post-intervention qualitative interview. The results showed that the intervention was highly acceptable. The results of the qualitative data analysis highlighted relevant themes related to strategies for improving the content, delivery, and structure of the intervention. The results also showed that, despite a decrease in the participants’ adherence as the intervention progressed, there was a consistent improvement in the participants’ resilience, PTSD, and rumination. Based on the results, the intervention was revised for prospective feasibility and efficacy testing. Our results highlight the need to use a collaborative approach in the early stage of the development of self-management PTSD interventions.
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This study was funded by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) School of Nursing Dean Research Support Fund.
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This research study involved human participants. All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (University of Nevada, Las Vegas Office of Research Integrity – Human Subjects, Reference # #1321358) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Reyes, A.T., Muthukumar, V., Bhatta, T.R. et al. Promoting Resilience Among College Student Veterans Through an Acceptance-and-Commitment-Therapy App: An Intervention Refinement Study. Community Ment Health J 56, 1206–1214 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00617-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00617-4