Sponsor:

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Following sexual assault a substantial number of victims will go on to develop psychopathology, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or alcohol use disorders (AUD), and development of these disorders is costly to both the victim and society as a whole. Intervening early with victims of assault has the potential to provide individuals with coping strategies that could be beneficial in decreasing risk of developing chronic psychopathology. This project is designed to adapt existing empirically supported cognitive treatment principles for both PTSD and AUD symptoms to be delivered in a brief one session format followed by therapist led coaching calls in the 6 weeks immediately following sexual assault. We are using an iterative process to refine the intervention incorporating expert feedback, provider feedback, and feedback from participants in order to design the most effective and feasible intervention possible. We will then test the brief intervention compared to an assessment only group to provide information on the efficacy of the intervention for PTSD and alcohol outcomes compared to the natural recovery process. This research is significant in its potential to use targeted prevention to decrease the development of chronic psychopathology in a high risk group of individuals.