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


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


METHODS
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 < 50.05) 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.
Clinical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK. G.turpin@shef.ac.shef.ac.uk
Graham
G
Turpin
Maria
M
Downs
Suzanne
S
Mason
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010174:Pamphlets; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000523:psychology*