Summary
A full-scale, national, virtual clinical trial will evaluate the "Signs of Safety" Deaf-accessible therapy toolkit for comorbid alcohol use disorder (AUD) and trauma in the U.S. Deaf community.
Evaluating Signs of Safety: A Deaf-Accessible Therapy Toolkit for AUD and Trauma
US · IL
NIH
grant
awarded
#nih-5R01AA031010-03
What they want
The project will enroll 144 Deaf adults with past-month PTSD and problem drinking into a national, full-scale, virtual clinical trial. It will compare the "Signs of Safety" toolkit against treatment as usual and a no-treatment control. Primary outcomes, including past 30-day alcohol use frequency/quantity and past 30-day PTSD severity, will be assessed at baseline, mid-treatment, immediate post-treatment, three-month post-treatment follow-up, and six-month post-treatment follow-up. The study also aims to analyze potential moderators and mediators that lead to positive outcomes, such as coping self-efficacy, self-compassion, motivation for treatment, and access to health information.
Deliverables
- Validation of the "Signs of Safety" toolkit as the first evidence-based therapy for Deaf people
- A vital roadmap for conducting community-engaged clinical trials with Deaf people
Technical requirements
- Signs of Safety toolkit (supplemental therapist guide, population-specific client materials like visual handouts and filmed ASL teaching stories)
- Virtual platform for clinical trial delivery
- Alcohol Timeline Followback for alcohol use assessment
- PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 for PTSD severity assessment
