Clinician perspectives on technology-enhanced in vivo exposures during prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD.

Abstract

To investigate clinicians'perceptions regarding the use of mobile technology tools during prolonged exposure (PE) therapy to allow for monitoring and enhancing in-vivo exposures (IVEs). Clinicians with training in PE therapy (N = 32; average of 9 years of practice) completed surveys asking about their perspectives on the utility of virtually attending IVEs with patients while simultaneously having access to real-time subjective and physiological data (i.e., heart rate, galvanic skin conductance) to guide exposure exercises and assure optimal stimulus engagement. Findings showed clinicians to have a favorable view of applying technology devices and systems to enhance IVEs of PE therapy. Most clinicians (93.8%) believed that real-time monitoring of IVEs-particularly monitoring patients'subjective distress and completion of and duration of time in the IVE-would be useful and significantly enhance PE therapy. The positive perceptions toward integrating technology into IVEs in this study have important implications for the development and implementation of technology-enhanced PE therapy. A mobile technology system that incorporates real-time indicators of engagement (i.e., both subjective and physiological) during IVEs and allows clinicians to review recordings of, or virtually accompany, patients during IVEs has the potential to innovate and transform PE and other exposure-based treatments. Clinicians also believed that technology-enhanced IVEs may help reduce early termination from PE.