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Effectiveness of providing self-help information following acute traumatic injury: randomised controlled trial

Clinical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield

MARIA DOWNS, BSc, DClinPsy

Psychological Health Sheffield, Sheffield Care Trust

SUZANNE MASON, MBBS, FRCS, FFAM, MD

Department of Accident and Emergency Medicine, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, UK

Correspondence: Professor Graham Turpin, Clinical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK. Tel: +44 (0)114 2226632; fax: (0)114 2226610; e-mail: G.turpin{at}shef.ac.shef.ac.uk

Declaration of interest None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

Background Patients attending an accident and emergency department may exhibit psychological disturbances post-injury. Early interventions have been suggested to reduce the risk of post-injury disorder, including psychoeducation.

Aims We assessed the efficacy of providing such self-help information.

Method Patients who had experienced trauma were randomised to two groups: those given (n=75) and not given (n=67) a self-help booklet. Psychological assessments were completed within 2, 10-12 and 24-26 weeks.

Results Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression decreased (P<0.05) with time but there were no group differences in PTSD or anxiety. The controls were less depressed (P<0.05) at follow-up. There was a reduction in PTSD caseness within the control (50%) compared with the intervention (20%) group which was almost significant (P<0.06).

Conclusions This trial failed to support the efficacy of providing self-help information as a preventive strategy to ameliorate PTSD.

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