Preventing psychological distress following a motor vehicle crash: evaluating the efficacy of brief psychological and lifestyle interventions for preventing severe psychological injury in adults who have experienced a motor vehicle crash

Preliminary results show that for those diagnosed with depression at baseline in the CBT group, psychological distress reduced by around 16%. For those with depression in the healthy lifestyle group, distress increased marginally. For those in the control group with depression, distress stayed much the same. For those without depression, reductions in distress occurred, regardless of group. The results suggest that for those with depression, a healthy lifestyle intervention is contraindicated, necessitating the cessation of recruitment to this intervention. The interventions were reported as acceptable by the majority and the data indicated that the study is feasible. At this point, it seems CBT with telephone support will reduce psychological distress in physically injured people with depression who are engaged in seeking compensation. However, for some, it may be enough to offer fortnightly telephone contact with provision of claim-related reading material to reduce distress in those who are depressed. For those who were not depressed, time plus telephone support is most likely sufficient enough to assist them to recover. The trial will continue with further recruitment to only the CBT and control groups, over longer follow-up periods.