Cost-effectiveness of massed versus spaced trauma-focused treatment as first-line treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in adults with multiple trauma exposure: protocol for a single-blind non-inferiority randomised controlled trial

Introduction
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious disorder that burdens individuals and society. The current standard of first-line treatment for PTSD is spaced trauma-focused treatment (S-TFT), involving weekly sessions. While effective, S-TFT may take relatively long to complete, especially in patients exposed to multiple potentially traumatic events (PTEs). Massed trauma-focused treatment (M-TFT), involving increased session frequency, potentially results in faster symptom reduction and restoration of quality of life, as well as in a reduction of societal costs. However, M-TFT is not recommended as first-line treatment. This paper describes the research protocol of a single-blind, multicentre randomised controlled trial (RCT) aimed at investigating: (1) the clinical and cost-effectiveness of M-TFT versus S-TFT in employed, multiply traumatised patients who seek first-line treatment for PTSD and (2) predictive and moderating factors related to treatment response.

Methods and analysis
186 participants are recruited from five centres and will be included if they are ≥18 years old, meet criteria for a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition PTSD diagnosis based on ≥two PTEs, seek treatment for the first time and are employed. Patients with specified comorbid disorders and insufficient Dutch language proficiency are excluded. Participants are randomised to 800 min of either M-TFT or S-TFT. M-TFT consists of two once-weekly preparatory sessions, 10 twice-daily sessions of prolonged exposure, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy for 2 weeks and two once-weekly closing sessions. S-TFT consists of weekly sessions of one of five evidence-based treatment interventions. Outcomes are assessed at baseline and at 7 weeks, 17 weeks, 6 months and 9 months after baseline. Primary outcomes are clinical effectiveness in terms of PTSD symptom severity and cost-effectiveness based on quality of life measures and societal costs. Data will be analysed with linear mixed models.

Ethics and dissemination
This study protocol was approved by the Medical Ethics Review Board of the Amsterdam University Medical Center (NL86057.018.24). Participants will provide informed consent before enrolment in the trial. Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and will be released to clinicians, patient groups and the general community.

Trial registration number
This protocol is registered at Overview of Medical Research in the Netherlands (OMON; trial register number 56960) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06700590).

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Augmentation of trauma-focused psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction
Despite the established status of trauma-focused psychotherapy (TFP) as a first-line treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a substantial proportion of individuals do not achieve clinically significant improvement or discontinue treatment. Exploring augmentation strategies to enhance treatment outcomes is essential to reduce the overall burden PTSD puts on individuals and society. This protocol outlines a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy of non-pharmacological augmentation strategies in addition to TFP for PTSD treatment.

Methods and Analysis
We comprehensively searched PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, PTSDpubs, PsycArticles, PsycINFO, PSYNDEX and CINAHL for RCTs without restrictions on publication dates or languages in October 2024. Study screening is currently ongoing. Additionally, we will perform forward and backward searches of the included studies and relevant reviews. Two reviewers will independently screen and select studies, extract data and assess the risk of bias. We will conduct a narrative review to qualitatively synthesise data and a meta-analysis to quantitatively compare the treatment efficacy of augmented TFP with TFP alone or TFP plus placebo. Primary outcomes will be both symptom severity and response rates. The secondary outcome will be dropout rates. We will explore sources of between-study heterogeneity and potential moderators through subgroup and meta-regression analyses. We will assess the overall quality of the included studies with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system.

Ethics and dissemination
Ethical approval is not required. We intend to publish results in a peer-reviewed journal and provide materials and data through the Open Science Framework.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42024549435.

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Trauma has an echo: a mixed methods study exploring barriers to routine healthcare for survivors of sexual violence in a UK higher education setting

Objectives
To explore barriers to healthcare among survivors of sexual violence (SV) and the behavioural pathways behind avoidance, focusing on survivor-led solutions.

Design
A mixed methods study collated qualitative interviews/surveys to explore the lived experiences of survivors of SV. Data were analysed using both quantitative descriptors and qualitative thematic analysis to expand the mechanisms/solutions to reported rates.

Setting
Higher education setting in the UK.

Participants
Forty-two survivors of SV between the ages of 18 and 29 self-identified as female (36), male (4), genderfluid (1) and non-binary transmasculine (1), with 10 describing themselves as being from racially minoritised communities and 32 as White survivors.

Results
Analysis found 86% of survivors completely or significantly avoided healthcare, particularly sexual and reproductive services. Three themes were identified: (1) wider societal blame/marginalisation of survivors hindered their ability to access care in what felt like ‘a system of oppression’; (2) once past these barriers, direct experiences with professionals replicated trauma, exacerbating avoidance and health disparities through ‘healthcare-induced re-traumatisation’; (3) survivors identified what they needed to re-engage in healthcare including trauma-informed professionals and compassionate services with ‘survivor-centred care’.

Conclusions
SV may deepen health inequalities as survivors avoid healthcare. Survivor-led reforms called for survivor-centred practices and encouraged systemic reflection on how healthcare systems may contribute to the broader marginalisation of survivors. Findings echo policy recommendations for co-produced services led by minoritised/marginalised patients and operationalise trauma-informed training for healthcare professionals. Additionally, access-focused psychological support could reduce the impact of sexual trauma on morbidity and mortality.

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Music, Poetry, and Healing

Music in its many forms is an important complementary healing modality. Programs such as MusiCorps aid wounded veterans in recovering from the trauma of war; world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma speaks often of music’s therapeutic power. No wonder countless physicians are also accomplished musicians. With its emphasis on language’s musical qualities, ranging from percussive spoken word to metrical formal verse, poetry also harbors a comparable healing potential. In “The Survivors,” we experience how music heals in both these vernaculars, first in its overt depiction of a piano concerto played in a hospital lobby, and then expressed in the measured, syllabic stanzas of the poem itself (that call to mind the stanzaic structure of another poem linking music and healing, John Donne’s “Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness”). Music’s capacity for connecting us, thus soothing suffering’s isolation, is more than our immersion in Chopin’s mellifluence, but is further illustrated by the poem’s central image of an audience of both patients and passersby gathered in a circle around the performer, himself a former patient. That music and poetry can somehow both contain and unlock intense emotions is dramatized in the pianist’s fingers flying across the keys, and felt in the sound created, as “…liberating, like/White birds mixed with black, a fierce flock/Of notes into the hospital’s vaulted lobby.” As the poem concludes, we realize that we are all “the survivors” of the poem’s title, joined, like Joshua and those drawn to hear his performance, in the universal struggle to confront our shared mortality.

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Scoping review protocol of the use of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing in the treatment of birth trauma

Introduction
A traumatic childbirth can have severe negative effects on the mental health of the mother and can negatively impact the child and partner. Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychological intervention used to treat symptoms of trauma. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines for antenatal and postnatal mental health recommend that trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy or EMDR should be offered to women who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from a traumatic birth. However, the use of EMDR for birth trauma has not been clearly outlined in the literature.

Objectives
The aim of this scoping review is to explore the extent of the currently available research and to identify knowledge gaps in the use of EMDR for treating birth trauma.

Methods and analysis
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines will be followed to provide a comprehensive scoping review of the use of EMDR for birth trauma. Several databases will be searched, such as PsychInfo, Pubmed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus and CINAHL, from the date the database was developed, until approximately August 2026. The grey literature sources will also be searched, and searches will be limited to include studies written in the English language. Two researchers will independently screen and extract data from both quantitative and qualitative studies, which meet the inclusion criteria. Data will be analysed in a descriptive and thematic manner. Data extraction may include study characteristics, data collection procedures, outcomes and results. Findings will be presented in tabular and narrative formats.

Ethics and dissemination
Ethical Approval is not necessary for this review, as only secondary data will be used. It is expected that the review will be disseminated at psychological conferences and in relevant journal articles.

Trial registration number
This scoping review protocol has been registered on Open Science Framework. The registration DOI is: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/UJZ52.

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Scoping review protocol of the use of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing in the treatment of birth trauma

Introduction
A traumatic childbirth can have severe negative effects on the mental health of the mother and can negatively impact the child and partner. Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychological intervention used to treat symptoms of trauma. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines for antenatal and postnatal mental health recommend that trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy or EMDR should be offered to women who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from a traumatic birth. However, the use of EMDR for birth trauma has not been clearly outlined in the literature.

Objectives
The aim of this scoping review is to explore the extent of the currently available research and to identify knowledge gaps in the use of EMDR for treating birth trauma.

Methods and analysis
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines will be followed to provide a comprehensive scoping review of the use of EMDR for birth trauma. Several databases will be searched, such as PsychInfo, Pubmed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus and CINAHL, from the date the database was developed, until approximately August 2026. The grey literature sources will also be searched, and searches will be limited to include studies written in the English language. Two researchers will independently screen and extract data from both quantitative and qualitative studies, which meet the inclusion criteria. Data will be analysed in a descriptive and thematic manner. Data extraction may include study characteristics, data collection procedures, outcomes and results. Findings will be presented in tabular and narrative formats.

Ethics and dissemination
Ethical Approval is not necessary for this review, as only secondary data will be used. It is expected that the review will be disseminated at psychological conferences and in relevant journal articles.

Trial registration number
This scoping review protocol has been registered on Open Science Framework. The registration DOI is: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/UJZ52.

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Female sex workers perceptions, concerns and acceptability of OraQuick HIV self-test in Woldia town, North Wollo, Ethiopia: a qualitative study

Objective
To explore female sex workers’ perception, concern and acceptability of OraQuick HIV self-test (HIVST) in Woldia town, North Wollo, Ethiopia, in 2024.

Design
The study used a phenomenological design and the Integrated Behaviour Model as a theoretical framework.

Setting
Woldia town, Ethiopia, is the capital city of North Wollo Zone.

Participants
Twenty female sex workers and 18 key informants in Woldia town were involved.

Results
Most participants had a positive attitude towards testing with these devices and anticipated positive consequences, such as enhanced privacy, decreased waiting time, reduced transportation costs, increased accessibility for immobile individuals, elevated utility in index case screening and testing programmes and the provision of confidential, trustworthy and reliable test results. Most female sex workers perceived that significant people in their social environment approved and used OraQuick HIVST. The facilitators to uptake of OraQuick HIVST among female sex workers included privacy, ease of use and nonrequierement for trained healthcare providers when testing. Thus, most female sex workers were confident in their ability to test themselves and interpret their test result using OraQuick HIVST.
To optimise uptake of testing using OraQuick, female sex workers proposed supplying kits in an easily accessible manner, increasing awareness about the kit and advocating for and promoting that the kits are strategies to facilitate HIVST uptake and maximise individuals’ self-efficacy. The perceived possible concerns or barriers to the uptake of OraQuick HIVST included a shortage of kits, doubts about reliability prior to education, absence of policies or guidelines for HIVST, lack of post-test counselling and immediate treatment for positive individuals, potential psychological trauma such as suicidal ideation or attempts, lack of linkage to care for those with reactive results and inaccurate reporting of positive results or result concealment.

Conclusion
This finding suggests that OraQuick HIVST was acceptable to female sex workers in the study area, with the majority of female sex workers having a positive attitude, supportive social norms and self-efficacy. Therefore, interventions to increase awareness, advocate for the kit and address perceived concerns or barriers to HIVST are needed to maximise its uptake in the study setting.

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Prospective observational study to assess the performance accuracy of clinical decision rules in children presenting to emergency departments with possible cervical spine injuries: the Study of Neck Injuries in Children (SONIC)

Introduction
Paediatric cervical spine injury (CSI) is uncommon but can have devastating consequences. Many children, however, present to emergency departments (EDs) for the assessment of possible CSI. While imaging can be used to determine the presence of injuries, these tests are not without risks and costs, including exposure to radiation and associated life-time cancer risks. Clinical decision rules (CDRs) to guide imaging decisions exist, although two of the existing rules, the National Emergency X-Radiography Low Risk Criteria and the Canadian C-Spine Rule (CCR), focus on adults and a newly developed paediatric rule from the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) is yet to be externally validated. This study aims to externally validate these three CDRs in children.

Methods and analysis
This is a multicentre prospective observational study of children younger than 16 years presenting with possible CSI following blunt trauma to 1 of 14 EDs across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Data will be collected on presenting features (history, injury mechanism, physical examination findings) and management (diagnostic imaging, admission, interventions, outcomes). The performance accuracy (sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values) of three existing CDRs in identifying children with study-defined CSIs and the specific CDR defined outcomes will be determined, along with multiple secondary outcomes including CSI epidemiology, investigations and management of possible CSI.

Ethics and dissemination
Ethics approval for the study was received from the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee in Australia (HREC/69436/RCHM-2020) with additional approvals from the New Zealand Human and Disability Ethics Committee and the SingHealth Centralised Institutional Review Board. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and future management guidelines.

Trial registration number
Registration with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry prior to the commencement of participant recruitment (ACTRN12621001050842). 50% of expected patients have been enrolled to date.

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Out-of-hospital births and the experiences of emergency ambulance clinicians and birthing parents: a scoping review of the literature

Objective
Emergency ambulance services attend a wide array of medical and trauma patients. Infrequently, this includes imminent or out-of-hospital births (OOHBs). This scoping review explores emergency ambulance clinician involvement with OOHBs, and patient and clinician experiences with birthing in the out-of-hospital setting.

Design
Scoping review using the Joanna Briggs Institute framework and ‘participant, concept, context’ criteria.

Data sources
CINAHL, Embase, Medline, Web of Science and Wiley Online were searched until 20 February 2024.

Eligibility criteria for selecting articles
Articles discussing an unplanned OOHB, or a planned home birth with complications where an emergency ambulance was required, were included.

Data extraction and synthesis
Two reviewers independently determined inclusion using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. A data extraction tool summarised findings for descriptive synthesis.

Results
63 articles were included. 36 articles involved retrospective research. 38 articles were published since 2015, with USA (n=17) and Australia (n=13) the highest contributors. Risk factors for OOHBs were varied, with maternal age or being multigravida/multiparous often cited. 99 complications were described, ranging from relatively minor ailments (ie, nausea and vomiting) to life-threatening situations such as maternal or neonatal cardiac arrest. Common management/interventions reported were assisting with birth, maternal intravenous cannulation and medication administration.
Birth parents, partners and clinicians all describe OOHBs as anxiety-provoking but joyous when a healthy neonate is born. The OOHB experience is enhanced for patients when clinicians communicate well, while those who appeared inexperienced increased patient anxiety.
OOHBs experience many challenges to optimal care, categorised as ‘emergency ambulance clinicians desiring additional education and training’, ‘communication and collaboration difficulties’, ‘environmental issues’, ‘technology and aids’ and ‘other’ limitations.

Conclusions
OOHBs are rare events requiring expert assistance to optimise patient outcomes. There remain significant challenges to unplanned OOHBs; ongoing training and skill competency is required to improve patient safety and clinician confidence. Further research investigating patient outcomes and experiences is recommended.

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