A novel dissemination effort for prolonged exposure: Practice and dissemination curriculum

This study examines the effectiveness of a novel dissemination and implementation curriculum for prolonged exposure (PE). Predoctoral clinical psychology interns completed a sequential, four-part curriculum that culminated in a community-based practicum during which interns conducted a PE workshop. We hypothesized that workshop participants would report more favorable attitudes regarding PE after completing the intern-led workshop than endorsed at the outset of the workshop.

A total of 53 workshop participants attended and completed questionnaires. The majority of workshop participants had a master's-level degree or educational specialist degree (n = 28; 57.1%) and were currently a counselor or psychosocial rehabilitation worker (n = 21; 42.9%). We examined changes between pre- and posttraining time points for five self-report items related to negative attitudes toward PE and three self-report items related to intent to use PE.

There was a significant effect of workshop training on four out of five items related to negative attitudes toward PE. The nonsignificant result of the fifth item may be due to a ceiling effect given that baseline scores for this item were very positive. There was a significant effect of workshop training on all three items related to intent to use PE.

Results suggested that this sequential four-part curriculum may be an effective way of combining education, training, and dissemination efforts. Future research should examine if similar results can be achieved with a controlled research design and whether outcomes would generalize to actual PE delivery skills in routine clinical care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).