Creating a national network of community-based consultants in prolonged exposure for PTSD: Outcomes and lessons learned from a consultant training program.

Abstract

Dissemination of prolonged exposure (PE) for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) requires the availability of consultants who can help mental health clinicians learn to deliver the protocol faithfully and effectively. However, there is a dearth of PE consultants. We created a training program that aims to develop a national network of community-based PE consultants. The purpose of the study is to evaluate program effectiveness. Our training program requires each consultant to provide consultation to two trainees, each of whom must treat two patients. Our team observes consultants engage with their trainees during virtual meetings and then provides feedback on each consultant's performance. Throughout the training, we collect outcome data on consultants, their trainees, and the patients of their trainees. We have graduated 36 consultants, representing 14 American states. The vast majority of consultants (90%) were able to meet training requirements and expectations. Additionally, the majority of the consultants' trainees (60%) demonstrated competence for independent practice as evidenced primarily by high treatment fidelity ratings across two patients. Among consultants' trainees who reached competency benchmarks, their patients had a robust decrease in PTSD symptom severity from pretreatment to posttreatment (Cohen's d = 1.69). Lastly, follow-up survey data indicated that consultants and their trainees spent more time providing PE consultation and delivering PE, respectively, after completing their training. Outcome data from the first six cohorts indicate feasibility and effectiveness in PE consultant training. We share lessons learned in the development, maintenance, and improvement of our consultant training program. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).