A pragmatic feasibility trial of the Primary Care Intervention for PTSD: A health service delivery model to reduce health disparities for low-income and BIPOC youth.

OBJECTIVE: This study is a non-randomized pragmatic trial to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the Primary Care Intervention for Posttraumatic stress disorder (PCIP) (Srivastava et al., 2021), an Integrated Behavioral Health Care treatment for PTSD in adolescents. METHOD: Following routine clinic procedures, youth who were suspected of having trauma-related mental health symptoms were referred by their primary care providers to integrated care social workers for evaluation. The integrated care social workers referred the first 23 youth whom they suspected of having PTSD to the research study. Twenty youth consented to the study and 19 completed the pre-assessment (17 female; mean age = 19.32, SD = 2.11; range 14-22 years). More than 40% identified as Black and a third as Hispanic/Latinx. PCIP mechanisms and clinical outcomes were assessed pre- and post-treatment, and at one-month follow-up. Participants and therapists completed post-treatment qualitative interviews to assess feasibility and acceptability, and treatment sessions were audio recorded to assess fidelity. RESULTS: Findings suggest high acceptability, satisfaction, and feasibility of the PCIP delivered in "real-life" safety net pediatric primary care. Integrated care social workers had high treatment fidelity. Despite the small sample size, there was significant improvement in symptom scores of anxiety (g = 0.68, p = 0.02) and substance use (g = 0.36, p = 0.04) from pre to post, and depression symptoms (g = 0.38, p = 0.04) from pre to follow-up. Qualitative data from patients who completed exit interviews and integrated social workers indicated high satisfaction with the treatment, with some participants reporting that the integrated intervention was more acceptable and less stigmatizing than seeking mental health care outside of primary care. CONCLUSIONS: The PCIP may improve treatment engagement and access for vulnerable youth. Promising findings of high acceptability, feasibility, and initial clinical effectiveness suggest that PCIP warrants larger-scale study as part of routine care in pediatric integrated care.

Development and pilot testing of a five item traumatic stress screener for use with adolescents in pediatric primary care.

BACKGROUND: Almost 80% of adolescents in the US have experienced a traumatic event, and approximately 7% have post-traumatic stress disorder. However, there is a lack of validated and feasible assessments for assessing traumatic stress symptoms in pediatric primary care, and traumatic stress symptoms are routinely unidentified. This study aimed to develop, pilot test, and assess the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Primary Care Traumatic Stress Screen (APCTSS), a five-item yes/no screener for post-traumatic stress symptoms in adolescents designed for use in pediatric primary care. METHODS: The APCTSS was developed by pediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers who all provide care to trauma-affected adolescent patients. The providers sought to create a developmentally appropriate tool that accurately reflected DSM-5 posttraumatic stress symptoms and that was feasible and acceptable for use in pediatric primary care. To develop the APCTSS, they combined and adapted the UCLA Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Reaction Index for DSM-5 with the adult Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5. Next, 213 adolescent medicine patients were universally approached during routine clinic visits and 178 agreed to participate and were enrolled. The 178 patients were aged 13-22 (M=18.4, SD=2.3), 64.4% female; 62.1% Black or African-American, and 20.7% Hispanic/Latinx. Patients completed APCTSS, Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents (PHQ-A), and the Child PTSD Symptom Scale for DSM-5 Interview (CPSS-5-I), and 61 completed the Traumatic Events Screening Inventory for Children (TESI-C). RESULTS: 56.7% reported a criterion A trauma, 30.1% met criteria for DSM-5 PTSD, 7.4% met criteria for subsyndromal PTSD symptoms, and 19.0% for post-event impairing symptoms. Validity and reliability testing indicated that the APCTSS was internally consistent, had good concurrent and discriminant validity, and demonstrated good sensitivity and specificity in identifying adolescents at high risk for post-trauma symptoms. Over half of patients (56.0%) who screened positive on the APCTSS (score ≥2) would not have been identified as having a mental health concern using the PHQ-A, including 60.8% of patients who had probable PTSD, subsyndromal PTSD, or post-event impairing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Many youth with trauma-related mental health symptoms are unidentified in pediatric primary care, which is a missed opportunity for early identification and may contribute to a host of poor outcomes. The development of an effective and feasible traumatic stress screening tool for youth primary care may improve early intervention, and the health and well-being of trauma affected youth.