Implementation of evidence-based treatment for PTSD in Norway: clinical outcomes and impact of probable complex PTSD

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow-diagram of recruitment and attrition of patients treated with EBTs for PTSD in routine clinical services.

Table 1. Patient characteristics.

Characteristic	Intent to treat sample (196)	Completer sample (86)
Demographics
Age	37.3 (12.1)	37.8 (12.9)
Female sex	125 (67.2%)	57 (67.0%)
Married or partner	93 (50.3%)	38 (45.2%)
College-level education	67 (36%)	37 (44%)
Born abroad	35 (18.8%)	13 (15.5%)
Refugee or asylum seeker	9 (4.8%)	3 (3.6%)
Work incapacity, full or partial	147 (79%)	65 (77.4%)
Trauma history
Sexual abuse	109 (58.6%)	48 (57.1%)
Childhood physical abuse	80 (43.0%)	29 (34.5%)
Adult interpersonal violence	94 (50.5%)	38 (45.2%)
Psychological abuse	114 (61.3%)	45 (53.6%)
Number of types of trauma endorsed	5.6 (2.8)	5.2 (2.9)
CPTSD criteria met	127 (68.3%)	52 (61.9%)
Treatment history
Years since first contact with mental health services	10.6 (10.2)	11.0 (11.1)
Inpatient treatment ever	63 (33.9%)	23 (27.4%)
Inpatient treatment last year	23 (12.4%)	8 (9.5%)
Previous PTSD diagnosis	68 (36.6%)	25 (42.2%)
Previous trauma-focused treatment	32 (17.2%)	12 (14.3%)

Note: Data presented as means (SD) or counts (percentages).

Table 2. Mean, Standard deviation and effect sizes from first to last observation.

	«Intent-to-treat» sample			«Completer» sample
Measure	Total (N = 196)	CPTSD (n = 122)	PTSD (n = 55)	Total (N  = 89)	CPTSD (n = 52)	PTSD (n = 31)
PCL-5 (PTSD) first observation	52.5 (10.1)	56.0 (8.7)	45.5 (9.2)	50.4 (11.0)	55.4 (8.3)	43.1 (10.2)
PCL-5 (PTSD) last observation	38.2 (16.9)	40.9 (16.8)	32.9 (16.2)	28.5 (16.5)	32.3 (17.2)	23.5 (15.0)
Pre-post effect size (D)	0.98 (0.80-1.2)**	1.07 (.83–1.32)**	.94 (.55–1.33)**	1.52 (1.2–1.85)**	1.58 (1.15–2.03)**	1.52 (.87–2.15)**
GAD-7 (anxiety) first observation	11.5 (4.5)	12.7 (4.1)	9.1 (4.1)	10.5 (4.5)	11.9 (4.1)	8.5 (4.4)
GAD-7 (anxiety) last observation	9.3 (5.3)	10. 0 (5.5)	7.9 (4.6)	6.5 (4.6)	7.4 (4.8)	5.3 (4.0)
Pre-post effect size (D)	.46 (.30 - .61)**	.53 (.34 - .72)**	.26 (-.09 - .60)*	.89 (.64- 1.14)**	0.99 (0.68–1.30)**	0.76 (0.25–1.28)**
PHQ-9 (depression) first observation	18.1 (5.4)	20.2 (4.4)	13.9 (4.8)	17.8 (5.2)	20.2 (4.3)	14.5 (4.2)
PHQ-9 (depression) last observation	14.6 (7.0)	16.2 (7.0)	11.8 (5.9)	11.4 (6.4)	12.8 (6.5)	9.4 (5.9)
Pre-post effect size (D)	.55 (.40 - .71)**	.67 (.46 - .87)**	.39 (.05 - .73)	1.08 (.83–1.34) **	1.27 (0.91–1.63)**	1.00 (0.50–1.45)**

Notes: Data displayed as mean (std. deviation) or effect size (95% confidence interval). *p < .05, **p < .01, based on paired-samples t-tests; PCL-5 = PTSD Checklist for DSM-5; GAD-7 = General Anxiety Disorder 7; PHQ-9 = Patient Health Questionnaire 9

Figure 2. Pre and post PCL-5 scores in ‘completers’ with and without CPTSD. Scores below the clincial cutoff (>33) are indicated with green shading.

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to ethical approval and confidentiality agreements made with participants, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.