Involving Intimate Partners in Trauma-Focused Treatment: Veteran and Intimate Partner Perspectives

Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their intimate partners often express a desire for partner involvement (e.g., communication with therapists) in veterans' trauma-focused treatment (TFT), which can enhance treatment engagement and response. Although relationship satisfaction and PTSD symptoms in both partners may impact their interest in treatment involvement, there is a dearth of literature investigating these influences dyadically. The current study is a secondary analysis of data from veterans and their partners who completed a mailed survey as the veteran was beginning TFT through the Veterans Affairs (n = 211 dyads). We conducted an actor-partner interdependence model to examine the influence of veterans' and partners' relationship satisfaction, PTSD symptoms, and their interactions on each of their interest in having the partner talk with the therapist. Veterans were more interested in therapists speaking with their intimate partners when they experienced greater relationship satisfaction (β = .23, SE = .07), and when their partner had less relationship satisfaction and lower PTSD symptoms (B = -0.38, SE = 0.13). Intimate partners were more interested in speaking with the therapist when their own PTSD symptom severity was higher (β = .19, SE = .07), and when they experienced less relationship satisfaction and the veterans' PTSD severity was high (B = -0.28, SE = 0.11). Results suggest the importance of considering interconnections between veterans' and their partners' PTSD symptoms and relationship satisfaction when determining when and how to encourage partner-therapist discussions during veterans' TFT.