Recommendations were made by Dr Dominic Murphy, lead author of the study, about using tele-therapy to treat more veterans in future, these include:
- Preparing veterans for the demands of the therapy
- Ensuring tele-therapy is offered formally in the same way as outpatient therapy, e.g. a formal attendance and appointment policy
- Allowing flexibility by creating evening appointments to ensure veterans can attend
- Having a clear protocol to deal with technical difficulties, such as poor internet connection, which can result in sudden termination of therapy-session communication
Veterans attending Combat Stress’ treatment centres were invited to take part in tele-therapy, with a total of 54 people asked, resulting in 27 participants. Data was collected about treatment uptake, attendance, drop-out rates, time to complete therapy and the cost per case. Quantitative analyses were used to assess the effectiveness of tele-therapy using self-report measures of PTSD, anxiety, depression, anger and alcohol use.