Research Projects - Telehealth

PHREI has several studies in the field of Telehealth.

Cell Phone-Based Expert Systems for Smoking Cessation

This project aims to deliver a theory-based, computerized tailored intervention (CTI) or expert system via cell phone. The ubiquity and sophistication of today's wireless mobile technologies represent new modes of delivery for empirically based smoking cessation and other behavioral health interventions. The smoking cessation program is based on the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (TTM), a leading model in smoking cessation interventions.  The pilot study is a randomized, controlled trial to assess the cell phone's feasibility as an intervention modality for changing smoking behaviors. This will be the first study to adapt a smoking cessation Internet-based CTI to provide personalized feedback on a cell phone to reduce smoking behaviors in military veterans.

Telemental Health and Cognitive Processing Therapy for Female Veterans with Military-Related PTSD

Research with military troops returning from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan indicates that there is a new generation of both male and, more so than in previous wars, female veterans with high rates of military-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Many of these veterans are returning to rural and remote areas where access to trauma specific mental health services can be limited. This study will assess the effectiveness of telemental health as a mode of service delivery for high priority specialty services such as the treatment of PTSD.  Further, given mounting evidence of the healthcare needs of female veterans and gender-specific aspects of military-related PTSD, telemental health studies that include evaluations of clinical outcomes for specialized PTSD interventions among women are needed.

Telemental Health and Cognitive Processing Therapy for Rural Combat Veterans with PTSD

The immediate objective of this project is to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a telemental health modality (video-teleconferencing) for providing an evidence-based group intervention, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), to rural OIF/OEF Reservists, National Guardsmen, and veterans suffering with PTSD.  Investigators hope to develop an empirically sound telemental health protocol that will facilitate the extension of a manual-guided evidence-based PTSD treatment intervention to remote VA and DOD sites through video-teleconferencing thus overcoming current geographical barriers to needed care.