Abstract Background While psychotherapeutic interventions for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are effective, transfer to everyday life is challenged by a shift from treatment setting to the patients’ living environment. Adding digital components to the treatment (Blended Care, BC) may support autonomous completion of therapeutic tasks and facilitate transfer but has not been studied in residential treatment settings. Objective The present study explores the implementation, usability, and preliminary effectiveness of a BC approach for PTSD treatment in a non-acute residential hospital setting. Clinician and patient perspectives are considered. Methods 36 patients participated in a two-group quasi-experimental design (intervention vs. control) with three measurements (admission, discharge, three-month follow-up). Face-to-face trauma-focused CBT was offered in both groups, complemented by a BC software in the intervention group. Also, 16 clinicians participated in the study. We collected qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, software usage-data, and psychometric questionnaire data from patients and clinicians. Results Patients reported high satisfaction with software usability; clinicians had varying opinions. Uptake was inconsistent on both sides. Capacity issues and an inaccurate definition of the intended use hampered implementation. Still, intensified collaboration and sustained engagement with treatment contents were identified as benefits of BC. Quantitative measures of symptom severity showed no significant between-group differences in exploratory analyses and no relation to software usage intensity. Conclusions This study confirms potentials and obstacles of BC to facilitate the therapeutic process in the residential treatment of PTSD. It also emphasizes the importance of a concise concept for the coordination of digital and face-to-face components to ensure sufficient uptake and raise clinical effectiveness. Trial registration drks.de, DRKS00031741, Registration date: 21 April 2023, https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00031741/details .
Brähmer et al. (Fri,) studied this question.