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The COVID-19 pandemic affected countless people globally, resulting in a greater need for mental health professionals and resources1. The demand for mental health care is soaring yet the limitation of resources has strained the healthcare system, making it challenging to help patients in a timely manner2. This poster represents a snapshot of a larger project that is striving to investigate an intervention to help bridge the gap between patient need and prompt referral through a warm handoff approach and use of the PTSD Coach mobile application as well as exploring patients’ satisfaction3,4,5,6,8,9. In this poster, we analyze several measures from the DSM-5 CAPS-5 to assess the efficacy of the PTSD Coach Mobile Application and we also determine the distribution of traumatic life events that patients experienced at intake as per the DSM-5 LEC-57,10. Compared to intake, we observed that patients at follow-up had decreases in the mean values of subjective distress and impairment in occupational functioning, but an increase in the mean value of impairment in social functioning. Furthermore, feedback we received from study participants revealed mixed opinions regarding the application as well as inconsistent usage due to a variety of factors. As this is an ongoing study, the team is continuing to actively recruit participants and upon completion explore further the efficacy of the app as well as the warm handoff approach to facilitating care. Please refer to the QR code on the poster for references.
Nemani et al. (Thu,) studied this question.