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Telemedicine Treatment for Veterans With Gulf War Illness

NCT00129454 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 128

Last updated 2017-06-06

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Effective treatments have been developed to ameliorate symptom-related distress and reduce unnecessary healthcare utilization using cognitive-behavioral techniques (CBT) . However there is a major limitation of this treatment is that patients must attend sessions in person. The specific aims of the study are to: (1) Determine the clinical efficacy of Telephone CBT for veterans with GWI who are frequent consumers of ambulatory medical care; (2) Determine whether CBT for veterans with GWI leads to a reduction in the cost of VA health care; and (3) Develop a statistical model of treatment seeking in veterans with GWI who are frequent consumers of ambulatory medical care.

Conditions

  • Gulf War Syndrome

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The investigators adapted two previously validated CBT manuals for use in both Telephone and In-Person groups (the "Personal Health Improvement Program" and Dr. Charles Engel's group treatment for GWI). Treatment included the following standard components of CBT: Didactic or educational material about the causes of GWI and an explanation of how thinking can cause stress ("ABC" model); Assessment of psychological distress and behavioral problems that may be targets of therapeutic intervention (e.g. symptom-related anxiety); Assessment of "thinking errors" that lead to psychological distress and trigger behavioral problems (e.g. catastrophizing); Cognitive restructuring to teach disputing skills or how to correct thinking errors; Cognitive and behavioral homework assignments (e.g. written self-disclosure); Didactic homework assignments (e.g. listen to previous treatment session).

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This description is the same as the experimental treatment only disseminated in person rather than over the telephone.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • VA Office of Research and Development

    lead FED

Principal Investigators

  • Mia M Downing, PhD · East Orange Campus of the VA New Jersey Health Care System, East Orange, NJ

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Model
FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
70 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2005-09-01
Primary Completion
2008-02-22
Completion
2008-03-01

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00129454 on ClinicalTrials.gov