Chinese my trauma recovery,a web-based intervention for traumatized persons in two parallel samples: Randomized controlled trial

Background: guided self-help interventions for ptsd (post-traumatic stress disorder) are a promising tool for the dissemination of contemporary psychological treatment. objective: this study investigated the efficacy of the chinese version of the my trauma recovery (cmtr) website. methods: in an urban context,90 survivors of different trauma types were recruited via internet advertisements and allocated to a randomized controlled trial (rct) with a waiting list control condition. in addition,in a rural context,93 survivors mainly of the 2008 sichuan earthquake were recruited in-person for a parallel rct in which the website intervention was conducted in a counseling center and guided by volunteers. assessment was completed online on a professional chinese survey website. the primary outcome measure was the post-traumatic diagnostic scale (pds); secondary outcome measures were symptom checklist 90-depression (scl-d),trauma coping self-efficacy scale (cse),post-traumatic cognitive changes (pcc),and social functioning impairment (sfi) questionnaires adopted from the my trauma recovery website. results: for the urban sample,findings indicated a significant group×time interaction in post-traumatic symptom severity (f1,88=7.65,p=.007). cmtr reduced post-traumatic symptoms significantly with high effect size after one month of treatment (f 1,45=15.13,cohen's d=0.81,p<.001) and the reduction was sustained over a 3-month follow-up (f1,45=17.29,cohen's d=0.87,p<.001). in the rural sample,the group×time interaction was also significant in post-traumatic symptom severity (f1,91=5.35,p=.02). post-traumatic symptoms decreased significantly after treatment (f 1,48=43.97,cohen's d=1.34,p<.001) and during the follow-up period (f1,48=24.22,cohen's d=0.99,p<.001). additional outcome measures (post-traumatic cognitive changes,depression) indicated a range of positive effects,in particular in the urban sample (group×time interactions: f1,88=5.32-8.37,all ps<.03),contributing to the positive evidence for self-help interventions. differences in the effects in the two rcts are exploratorily explained by sociodemographic,motivational,and setting feature differences between the two samples. conclusions: these findings give support for the short-term efficacy of cmtr in the two chinese populations and contribute to the literature that self-help web-based programs can be used to provide mental health help for traumatized persons. trial registration: australia new zealand clinical trials registry (anzctr): actrn12611000951954; https://www.anzctr.org.au/trial/registration/trialreview.aspx?actrn= 12611000951954 (archived by webcite at http://www.webcitation.org/6g7wynodk).