Trial reportBMC psychiatry2020
Evaluation of an internet-based intervention for service members of the German armed forces with deployment-related posttraumatic stress symptoms.
Trial report in BMC psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mental health and wellbeing interventions for uniformed service personnel: a mixed methods systematic review.BMC medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Internet-based cognitive and behavioural therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Impacts of Internet-Based Interventions for Veterans With PTSD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- Article
- Staying Relevant in the Digital Age: Exploring the Evolving Frontier of Telehealth for Mental Health in the Military Health System and Veterans Health Administration.Current psychiatry reports · 2025Review
- Feasibility and acceptability of remote technologies for the treatment of trauma- and stressor-related disorders in adults: mixed-methods systematic review.BJPsych open · 2025Review
- Implementing internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (moodgym) for African students with symptoms of low mood during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative feasibilty study.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Development of an online supportive treatment module for moral injury in military veterans and police officers.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Associations between oxytocin and vasopressin concentrations, traumatic event exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms: group comparisons, correlations, and courses during an internet-based cognitive-behavioural treatment.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2021Article
- Associations Between Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Deployed Service Members of the German Armed Forces.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe present study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a therapist-guided internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (iCBT) intervention for service members of the German Armed Forces with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The iCBT was adapted from Interapy, a trauma-focused evidence-based treatment based on prolonged exposure and cognitive restructuring. It lasted for 5 weeks and included 10 writing assignments (twice a week). The program included a reminder function if assignments were overdue, but no multimedia elements. Therapeutic written feedback was provided asynchronously within one working day.
methodsMale active and former military service members were recruited from the German Armed Forces. Diagnoses were assessed with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) and the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Psychopathology was assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up. Severity of PTSD was the primary outcome and anxiety was the secondary outcome. Participants were randomly allocated to a treatment group that received iCBT immediately or to a waitlist group that received iCBT after 6 weeks. Due to the overall small sample size (n = 37), the two groups were collapsed for the statistical analyses. Change during the intervention period was investigated using latent-change score models.
resultsImprovements in the CAPS-5 were small and not statistically significant. For anxiety, small significant improvements were observed from pre- to follow-up assessment. The dropout rate was 32.3%.
conclusionsThe low treatment utilization and the high dropout rate are in line with previous findings on treatment of service members. The interpretation of the current null results for the efficacy of iCBT is limited due to the small sample size, however for military samples effect estimates were also smaller in other recent studies. Our results demonstrate the need to identify factors influencing treatment engagement and efficacy in veterans.
trial registrationAustralian Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12616000956404.
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