Recruiting

COPE

Sponsor:

VA Office of Research and Development

Code:

NCT05812131

Conditions

PTSD

Substance Use Disorders

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

COPEWeb online training

COPE In Person

Study Details

Brief summary:

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD) are two of the most common and debilitating mental health conditions afflicting military Veterans. PTSD and SUD frequently co-occur and are associated with poorer treatment outcomes. The investigators' team developed a trauma-focused intervention, Concurrent Treatment of PTSD and Substance Use Disorders Using Prolonged Exposure (COPE), which is identified by the VA as a gold standard of behavioral healthcare and was designated as a first-line treatment in the 2025 APA Clinical Practice Guideline for PTSD. However, a critical barrier to ensuring that Veterans with co-occurring PTSD/SUD receive evidence-based treatment is a lack of provider training. This project directly addresses this critical gap by developing a new web-based training program for providers (COPEWeb).

Conditions

PTSD

Substance Use Disorders

Study ID

NCT05812131

Start date

May 11, 2025

Status verified date

Jul, 2026

Completion date

Apr 5, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jan 1, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • currently a provider in a behavioral health field (e.g., psychology, psychiatry, counseling)
  • English speaking
  • able to consistently obtain reliable internet access
  • willing to attend a 2-day "live" in-person (or virtual) COPE training if randomly assigned to that condition
  • willing to engage in a standardized patient assessment after training
  • has no prior formal training in the COPE therapy

Exclusion Criteria:

  • received prior training in COPE
  • not a provider in the behavioral health field
  • non-English speaking
  • lack of reliable internet access

Study Design

Enrollment

248 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Factorial

Primary purpose

Health Services Research

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: COPEWEb

online COPEWeb training

active comparator: COPE In person

COPE training delivered in person

Interventions

COPEWeb online training

COPE training delivered via online COPEWEb to providers

COPE In Person

COPE training provided in person to providers

Primary outcome measure

  • IBM Computer Usability Satisfaction Questionnaires (CSUQ) [ Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 8 weeks ]
  • COPE Knowledge Acquisition Test (CKAT) [ Time Frame: Change from baseline to study completion, an average of 8 weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Sudie E Back, PhD

(843) 792-9383Sudie.Back@va.gov

Stacey S Sellers, MS

(843) 789-6703Stacey.Sellers@va.gov

Locations

Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Charleston, SC

Recruiting

Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 29401-5703

Contacts

Sudie E Back, PhD

(843) 792-9383Sudie.Back@va.gov

Principal Investigator:

Sudie E. Back, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development

Last update posted

Aug 6, 2026

Last verified

Jul, 2026

Keywords

  • PTSD
  • substance use disorders
  • training
  • providers

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by VA Office of Research and Development on 2026-08-06.