Early Effects of the Trauma Collaborative Care Intervention: Results from a Prospective Multicenter Cluster Clinical Trial

Objectives:To evaluate the impact of the Trauma Collaborative Care (TCC) program's early intervention components on 6-week outcomes. TCC was developed to improve psychosocial sequelae of orthopaedic trauma and includes the Trauma Survivors Network and additional collaborative care services.Design:Prospective, multicenter, cluster clinical trial.Setting:Level I Trauma Centers.Patients:Individuals with high-energy orthopaedic injuries requiring surgery and hospital admission: 413 patients at 6 trauma centers implementing the TCC program and 374 patients at 6 trauma centers receiving usual care.Intervention:TCC early intervention: patient education, peer visits, and coaching calls.Main Outcome Measurements:Pain rating scale, Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, and self-efficacy for return to work and managing finances. For each outcome, a hybrid Bayesian statistical procedure, accounting for clustering within sites and differences in baseline characteristics between sites, was used to estimate the intention-to-treat (ITT) effect and the effect under full receipt of early intervention components.Results:Sites varied substantially in utilization of intervention components. The posterior estimates of the ITT (full receipt) effect favor TCC for 4 (5) of the 5 endpoints. The posterior probabilities of a favorable (ITT; full receipt) TCC effect were as follows: depression (89%-93%), pain (84%-74%), post-traumatic stress disorder (68%-68%), self-efficacy for return to work (74%-76%), and self-efficacy for managing finances (47%-61%).Conclusions:Results suggest TCC may have a small positive effect on early outcomes, but use of the services was highly variable among sites.Level of Evidence:Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.