Treating Veterans and Military Families: Evidence Based Practices and Training Needs Among Community Clinicians.

ABSTRACT

Little is known about the capacity of community providers to provide military informed evidence based services for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We conducted a regional, web-based survey of 352 community mental health care providers that sought to identify clinical practices, training needs, and predictors of evidence based treatment (EBT) use for PTSD. Overall, 49 % of providers indicated they seldom or never use a validated PTSD screening instrument. Familiarity with EBTs, specifically prolonged exposure (PE; χ2(4) = 14.68, p < .01) and cognitive processing therapy (CPT; χ2(4) = 4.55, p < .05), differed by provider type. Of providers who received training in PE or CPT (N = 121), 75 % reported using treatment in their practice, which was associated with having received clinical supervision (χ2 (1) = 20.16, p < .001). Widely disseminated trainings in empirically supported PTSD assessment and treatment, and implementation of case supervision in community settings are needed.