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Assessment and Treatment of Cognitive Functioning Deficits in Veterans With PTSD

NCT03696225 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 21

Last updated 2026-01-23

Study results available
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Summary

Approximately half a million Veterans receiving services at the VA have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is strongly associated with cognitive functioning deficits in areas of concentration, attention, memory, learning, verbal abilities, processing speed, and multitasking. Compensatory Cognitive Training (CCT) is an evidence-based intervention for cognitive problems that is effective in other Veteran populations such as those with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI), but CCT has not yet been tested in Veterans with PTSD who don't have a history of TBI. The investigators will conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of CCT in Veterans who have been treated for PTSD but continue to have cognitive functioning deficits. The investigators will examine feasibility, acceptability, participant characteristics, and effect size estimates in preparation for a fully-powered RCT of CCT for PTSD-related cognitive functioning deficits.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Compensatory Cognitive Training (CCT)

Compensatory Cognitive Training draws from the theoretical literature on compensatory strategy training for other cognitively impaired populations (e.g., Huckans et al., 2013; Twamley et al., 2010; Storzbach et al., 2016). It is a rehabilitation model that aims to teach individuals strategies that allow them to work around cognitive deficits. Consistent with this model and the expert recommendations for civilians and Service members with TBI (Cicerone, 2011), manualized CCT treatment provides training in compensatory attention and learning/memory skills, formal problem-solving strategies applied to daily problems, and the use of external aids such as calendar systems and assistive devices to promote completion of daily tasks (Storzbach et al., 2016).

BEHAVIORAL

Treatment as Usual (TAU)

All TAU participants have an ongoing VA mental health provider and received ongoing mental health care during the course of the study (generally weekly individual or group sessions focusing on evidence-based PTSD treatment).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • VA Office of Research and Development

    lead FED

Principal Investigators

  • Maya Elin O'Neil, PhD MS · VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

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

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-03-06
Primary Completion
2024-09-29
Completion
2025-12-29

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

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 NCT03696225 on ClinicalTrials.gov