# Novel Telemedicine-Delivered Prolonged Exposure Therapy for Treating PTSD in Individuals with OUD

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT & ST AGRIC COLLEGE · 2024 · $693,303

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
 Nearly 90% of individuals with OUD report lifetime trauma exposure and 33% meet criteria for PTSD.
Patients with co-occurring PTSD and OUD are at significantly greater risk for poor substance use and mental
health outcomes vs. those with OUD alone. Although Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy is a first-line treatment
for PTSD, its efficacy is commonly undermined by poor attendance. We recently demonstrated the initial
feasibility of a novel PE protocol for improving therapy attendance and PTSD symptoms among individuals
maintained on MOUD. Participants were randomly assigned to: (a) Treatment as usual (TAU) (b) Prolonged
Exposure therapy (PE) or (c) PE with attendance contingent financial incentives (PE+). Our results demonstrated
the initial efficacy of PE+, as PE+ participants attended significantly more therapy sessions than PE participants
and experienced significant improvements in PTSD symptoms. Our findings also suggest that, rather than
undermining patients’ stability with illicit drug use, PE may be associated with less illicit substance use than SUD
treatment alone.
 In the proposed research, we seek to: a) conduct a more definitive evaluation of this novel PE
intervention, b) utilize a novel telemedicine platform to reach underserved patients, and c) further investigate this
promising initial data suggesting that PE therapy may also be associated with improvements in illicit drug use.
Primary Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of a novel telemedicine-delivered PE protocol for improving therapy
attendance and PTSD symptoms. We will conduct a parallel three-group RCT among 135 adults with PTSD who
are maintained on MOUD (45 TAU, 45 PE, 45 PE+). All study visits will be conducted via telemedicine and
attendance-contingent financial incentives will be delivered digitally. We hypothesize that participants assigned
to PE+ will demonstrate greater PE session attendance and decreases in PTSD severity relative to those
assigned to PE or TAU. Secondary Aims: (1) We will utilize rigorous and fine-grained assessment strategies to
evaluate whether individuals receiving PE may actually experience reductions in their illicit opioid and other drug
use. (2) We will conduct the first characterization of telemedicine-delivered PE acceptability and explore their
association with PE treatment retention and PTSD symptom reduction.
 This study represents the first effort to examine the efficacy of PE delivered via telemedicine to individuals
with OUD, and our investigative team is uniquely poised to disseminate our findings to improve clinical practice
in real-world settings throughout the country.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10885178
- **Project number:** 5R01DA057308-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT & ST AGRIC COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Kelly R. Peck
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $693,303
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-15 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10885178

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10885178, Novel Telemedicine-Delivered Prolonged Exposure Therapy for Treating PTSD in Individuals with OUD (5R01DA057308-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10885178. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*