Online Education Resources

In addition to disseminating products created by the Center, technology is helping to build public awareness of the overall impact of trauma as well as the prevention, understanding, and treatment of PTSD.

Website and Online Dissemination

Website. The National Center's public Website reached over 1.4 million visitors in fiscal year 2010. It continues to serve as the major dissemination vehicle for trauma and PTSD educational material. This year the site was refined, adding specific graphics and color themes to each of the three main site sections (Public/Veteran, Professional, and About Us). A focus was on making materials more accessible to the general public and those with disabilities. Of particular note are two revised sections: Return from War which incorporates the Returning from the War Zone Guides and interactive online family module as well as a new product called, Understanding PTSD, which is now the highlight product in the PTSD Overview section (see below for more information on this product).

VA PTSD Intranet. The Center's intranet site on the VA network provides additional information specifically for VA providers. Use increased on this site over the year almost 3 fold. The site contains an online training module for VA providers to learn how to administer the CAPS. Access to the course went from 33 visits per month in 2009 to 103 per month in 2010.

Monthly Email Updates. Previously the Center sent out quarterly email announcements containing information on changes to the Website. In January 2010 messages began to be sent out monthly, each providing a summary of all the Center has to offer on a particular topic. Subscriptions increased from 5500 to almost 8000 over the course of the fiscal year. Approximately 28% of subscribers are VA users.

Social Media. The Center continually works to put new technology to use. This past year the Center began 'tweeting' to provide Twitter users with easy access to the same content that we make available via our monthly electronic mailing list. In the first few months we averaged about 100 followers. By the end of the fiscal year we had 900 followers. The Center also launched a PTSD Facebook page and is making expert video content available on VA's YouTube channel.

VA PTSD Program Locator. In April 2010 the Center launched an online VA PTSD Program Locator. This is similar to the VA's facility locator, but provides the public with a map of VA's specialized PTSD programs across the country, noting that all VA Medical Centers provide some form of PTSD care. Each month the locator has been accessed by over 5,000 individuals.

Online Education Materials

PTSD 101. PTSD 101 continued to grow this fiscal year. This web-based curriculum strives to reach clinicians by providing expert lectures on PTSD and trauma in an on-demand format. This year five new courses were added to the series: "Epidemiology of PTSD," "Military Culture," "Difficult patient," "Families & Couples," and "Smoking Cessation and PTSD."

Understanding PTSD and Understanding PTSD Treatment. The National Center launched "Understanding PTSD" and "Understanding PTSD Treatment," interactive multimedia presentations that includes real stories of Veterans, videos of expert clinicians, and information regarding PTSD and its treatment. These resource complement other materials on our website, such as readjustment guides for OEF/OIF Veterans and their families.

Returning from the War Zone Guides. The War Zone Guides for family members and military personnel were both revised during FY 2009. A new interactive version of the family guide is now available online. The new guides include color photos, graphics, and personal stories.

Afterdeployment.org. The collaboration between the National Center for PTSD and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury on afterdeployment.org continued for the fourth year. This website serves as an Internet-based resource for self-management of post-deployment stress in recent returnees of OEF/OIF. In FY 2010, a complete revamp of the look and navigational features of the site was established; a provider portal was developed to support providers in identifying appropriate resources on this and other websites (including NCPTSD website); social networking capabilities were added to the site and Facebook and Twitter presence was established; brief psychoeducational documentary videos were written and produced, and 23 validated assessments were added for self-evaluation to the site.

My HealtheVet (MHV). Several National Center staff members serve on the Mental Health Executive Committee of MHV and related workgroups. In FY 2010, the committee focused on developing My Recovery Plan, a component of the VA Personal Health Record, which contains four features: my goals, my courses, outcomes, and medications on My HealtheVet. Work was completed on the My Goals course, an open access course where Veterans identify goals, monitor and track their progress toward these goals, and engage in a program of self-guided change. Two other courses were finished that can be used with a provider: an exposure hierarchy and a thought record. Members of the Clinical Adoption Workgroup began work to explore ways of bringing MHV e-tools into the practice patterns of mental health treatment, by developing clinical adoption pilot projects to better understand the barriers and facilitators of web services in the clinical setting.

Caring for Women Veterans. As more women access VA health care, they may receive care from health-care workers who are not accustomed to treating women. National Center staff are currently updating and converting to web format a training designed to enhance VA staff sensitivity and knowledge related to women Veterans' health-care needs. The Caring for Women Veterans training addresses topics such as common beliefs about women Veterans' use of medical care and services, issues of privacy and safety for women Veterans, women's use of VA health care, and sensitivity to the challenges many women Veterans face balancing their own health-care needs and their care-giving responsibilities.

Information Resources and Publications

Clinician's Trauma Update-Online (CTU-Online). Subscriptions are up 25% to CTU-Online, an electronic newsletter that provides summaries of articles from a variety of journals that have particular relevance for clinicians, with special emphasis on articles dealing with treatment and assessment of Veterans. Produced every other month, brief article summaries containing links to the full text article are emailed to over 8,000 clinicians.

PTSD Research Quarterly. The PTSD Research Quarterly provides expert reviews of the scientific literature on specific topics and is intended primarily for researchers and scientists. Subjects covered during FY 2010 included the impact of disasters and political violence on mental health in Latin America, OEF/OIF deployment-related traumatic brain injury, integrated treatments for PTSD and substance use Disorders, and positive changes following adversity.

PTSD Resource Center and PILOTS Database. The PTSD Resource Center, created by the National Center for PTSD, houses a book collection that has grown to more than 2,600 volumes containing multiple citations, which together with more than 31,000 journal articles, makes the Resource Center the world's largest collection of literature on traumatic stress. The PILOTS (Published International Literature on Traumatic Stress) database, based on this collection, is an electronic index to the worldwide literature on PTSD and other mental-health consequences of exposure to traumatic events. The PILOTS database now includes over 41,000 records with materials in 28 languages. PILOTS provides online links to full text versions of over 22,000 publications, including relevant articles written by National Center staff.