Reclaiming Your Life After Sexual Trauma

Individuals interested in participating in this study will complete a phone screening to determine if they are likely to be eligible and can be scheduled for an in-person diagnostic intake to take place at the Stress Trauma and Recovery Research Collaborative (STARRC) within the UK Clinic for Emotional Health or via HIPAA compliant Zoom. All participants will be provided with details regarding the phone screen questions and will be required to provide verbal consent over the phone before proceeding with the phone screen.

Once scheduled for an intake, participants will be sent a link to complete the intake questionnaires online prior to the start of the intake appointment and informed consent will be obtained in compliance with the University of Kentucky's Institutional Review Board (UK IRB) for these questionnaires. During the intake session, the participant will first be given a written and verbal description of the study and informed consent. The consent form will be presented to the participant on a tablet, or remotely, through REDCap in which they will be asked to provide a digital signature. If consent is provided, they will be given the option to be emailed a copy. They may also request a signed paper copy of the consent for their records or if they have additional questions in the future. The PI or designated staff will discuss the informed consent form with the participant volunteer. The consent process will take place in a quiet and private room or online via HIPAA compliant Zoom. Participants may take as much time as needed to make a decision about their trial participation and may take the document home if desired. The person obtaining consent will thoroughly explain each element of the document and outline the risks and benefits, alternative treatment(s), and requirements of the study. Participants will be informed that they can withdraw from the research at any time. Procedures and consent forms will comply with the requirements of the UK-IRB and ORI's Best Practices for Remote Informed Consent. The experimenter will then complete a consent post-test with participants. If a participant screens out of the study due to a consent capacity issue, any data from that participant that may have been previously collected during the phone screening and/or online surveys will not be used for research purposes.

Participant privacy will be maintained and questions regarding participation will be answered. No coercion or undue influence will be used in the consent process. No research-related procedures will be performed prior to obtaining informed consent. All signatures and dates will be obtained. A copy of the signed consent will be given to the participant. Signed electronic consents will be maintained and stored through REDCap and will be separated from participant data. We do not have reason to expect that participants are likely to have impaired consent capacity in this study. However, in a previous study our lab conducted where we did have this expectation we included a consent capacity evaluation document and found that we liked using it as an extra check that participants were aware of the study details and what they were agreeing to, and could state back to us in their own words what they could do if they became uncomfortable or decided they wished to take a break, skip sections, or discontinue the study. It is now our lab's standard operating procedure to include this measure in all in-person studies.

Upon referral to the study, participants will complete a brief telephone screening. The screen will predominantly be conducted by trained undergraduate/post-baccalaureate research/clinic assistants, however the PI, Co-Is, or a supervised graduate students/post-doctoral scholars may also conduct the phone screens. Screening forms for individuals who are deemed ineligible for the study will be retained for study records and research purposes. Likely eligible participants, determined by the phone screen, will be asked to complete a battery of self-report questionnaires, which will assess symptoms of anxiety/depression, shame, level of functioning (e.g., quality of life), and measures of PTSD and mental contamination (to be completed online via REDCap). This survey platform is designed specifically for collection of research data, and therefore meets the privacy standards imposed on health care records by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Resources to manage symptom difficulty will also be provided. Participants will also be invited to attend the intake in-person in the PI's research lab at the Clinic for Emotional Health or via HIPAA-compliant video conferencing service (i.e., Zoom via the UK HealthCare portal). A study assessor (i.e., doctoral students in clinical psychology/post-doctoral scholar/PI/Co-Is) will review study procedures with potential participants and ask them to provide their informed consent. After informed consent is provided, an interview-based diagnostic assessment will be administered in order to confirm clinical inclusion/exclusion criteria. This assessment visit will be video and/or audio-recorded. Recording via audio and/or video will be required for participation. Those who are deemed ineligible after this assessment will be withdrawn and given referrals and/or other resources as needed.

Eligible participants will then be randomized to either a three- or five-week baseline where they will complete weekly measures of PTSD symptoms, mental contamination, shame, and symptoms of anxiety/depression. This battery will be repeated each week during therapy sessions, along with additional post-session ratings about treatment credibility and therapeutic alliance. Participants will then be scheduled for their first study session either in-person or via HIPAA compliant Zoom, in which they will begin their first of five WET sessions. Following completion of the treatment, participants will be asked to provide satisfaction ratings and written qualitative feedback on their experience with the treatment they received after their last treatment session. For four weeks after treatment completion, participants will complete the same battery of questionnaires they have completed weekly throughout the course of the baseline and treatment phases. Participants will be compensated up to $20 for each of the follow-up questionnaire batteries (4 assessments at $5 each). A check with their earnings will be mailed to their reported address or given in-person after completion of the last set of weekly questionnaires (up to $20).