Longitudinal changes in mental health professionals’ perceived trauma care competencies after participation in a brief online training programme

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the study sample (N = 223).

Variable	n	%
Gender
Male	215	96.4
Female	7	3.1
Other	1	0.4
Age M (SD)	41.92 (11.06)
Profession
Psychologist	140	62.8
Psychiatrist	17	7.6
Psychotherapist	48	21.5
Other	18	8.1
Work experience
<2 years	27	12.1
2–10 years	81	36.3
>10 years	115	51.6
Seeing patients with traumatic experiences
Never/rarely/sometimes	79	35.4
Often	144	64.6
Seeing patients with PTSD
Never/rarely/sometimes	177	79.4
Often	46	20.6
Previous training in PTSD treatment
No	156	70.0
Yes	67	30.0
Previous training in PTSD assessment
No	191	85.7
Yes	32	14.3

Note. PTSD = Posttraumatic stress disorder.

Table 2. The perceived readiness to work with trauma-exposed patients scores (N = 159).

Perceived competency	Pre-training M (SD)	Post-training M (SD)	3-month follow-up M (SD)	Within-subjects effects
Treatment	5.34 (1.85)	7.23 (1.76)	6.58 (1.95)	F(1.86, 293.98) = 54.31*
Assessment	5.61 (1.68)	8.41 (1.69)	6.96 (2.19)	F(1.93, 304.54) = 97.03*
Affect tolerance	10.22 (2.24)	11.37 (2.13)	11.18 (1.99)	F(2, 316) = 27.18*
The RTEPS total	21.17 (4.25)	27.01 (3.97)	24.72 (4.53)	F(2, 316) = 114.09*

Note. RTEPS = Readiness to Work with Trauma-Exposed Patients Scale; *p < .001.

Figure 1. Trajectories of the perceived trauma care competencies change after training. Note. PTSD = Posttraumatic stress disorder; RTEPS = Readiness to Work with Trauma-Exposed Patients Scale. Mean values are presented for within-group analysis from pre- to post-training, and from pre-training to follow-up. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Table 3. Training effects on perceived trauma care competencies (N = 223).

	Measurement time point			Between-group effects			Wald test
	Pre-training M (SD)	Post-training M (SD)	3-month follow-up M (SD)	βbaseline	βt1-t2	βt1-t3	Post-training (df = 1)	3-month follow-up (df = 1)
Previous trauma care training
No	20.50 (4.29)	27.03 (4.54)	24.74 (5.51)	0.25***	−0.21**	−0.17*	0.20	0.21
Yes	22.77 (3.69)	27.30 (4.29)	25.15 (4.43)
Seeing patients with PTSD
Never or sometimes	20.72 (4.10)	27.02 (4.35)	24.65 (5.40)	0.24***	−0.18*	−0.10	0.27	1.19
Often	23.24 (4.19)	27.47 (5.00)	25.88 (4.45)
Seeing patients with traumatic experiences
Never or sometimes	21.79 (4.11)	27.40 (4.42)	24.93 (4.98)	−0.17**	0.08	0.12	2.05	0.11
Often	20.25 (4.29)	26.61 (4.76)	24.72 (5.60)
Work experience
<10 years	20.87 (4.00)	27.08 (4.17)	24.30 (4.91)	0.09	−0.07	0.02	0.04	1.29
>10 years	21.59 (4.43)	27.16 (4.88)	25.28 (5.50)

Note. β – regression coefficient for between-group analyses. Mean values and standard deviations are presented for within-group analysis for pre- to post-intervention and from pre-intervention to follow-up. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Table 4. Training effect sizes in professionals with various professional experiences (N = 223).

	Within-group effect size		Between-group effect size
	Pre-training/ Post-training d [95% C.I.]	Pre-training/ 3-month follow-up d [95% C.I.]	Pre-training/ Post-training d [95% C.I.]	Pre-training/ 3-month follow-up d [95% C.I.]
Previous trauma care training
No	1.47 [1.22; 1.73]	0.86 [0.62; 1.09]	−0.48 [−0.77; −0.20]	−0.45 [−0.73; −0.17]
Yes	1.12 [0.78; 1.47]	0.58 [0.25; 0.91]
Seeing patients with PTSD
Never or sometimes	1.49 [1.25; 1.72]	0.82 [0.60; 1.03]	−0.50 [−0.83; −0.17]	−0.31 [−0.63; 0.02]
Often	0.91 [0.48; 1.34]	0.61 [0.19; 1.02]
Seeing patients with traumatic experiences
Never or sometimes	1.31 [1.06; 1.56]	0.69 [0.45; 0.92]	0.18 [−0.10; 0.45]	0.32 [0.04; 0.59]
Often	1.39 [1.05; 1.74]	0.89 [0.56; 1.22]
Work experience
<10 years	1.51 [1.21; 1.82]	0.76 [0.49; 1.04]	−0.15 [−0.41; 0.11]	0.06 [−0.20; 0.32]
>10 years	1.19 [0.91; 1.47]	0.74 [0.47; 1.00]

Note. d = effect size; PTSD = Posttraumatic stress disorder.

Data availability statement

The detailed sociodemographic information of the dataset does not fully protect the anonymity of the respondents. For this reason, the entire dataset cannot be made publicly available. However, excerpts of the data on a higher aggregation level can be provided upon justified request by the first author, OG.