Reaching people soon after a traumatic event: an exploratory observational feasibility study of recruitment in the emergency department to deliver a brief behavioral intervention via smartphone to prevent intrusive memories of trauma

BACKGROUND: The current study explored how to recruit patients soon after a traumatic event, to deliver a novel intervention in a new emergency department in Sweden. This brief behavioral intervention aims to prevent intrusive memories and is delivered soon after trauma in the emergency department. In the UK, it has shown promising results. Traumatic events resulting in admission to the emergency department (e.g., road traffic accidents) may result in subsequent mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, where intrusive memories of the trauma constitute a core clinical feature. Early interventions that prevent intrusive memories after psychological trauma are lacking. Specific aims were to explore identification of eligible patients (aim 1), fitting in with emergency department staff routines to deliver the study protocol (aim 2), and using the patients’ own smartphones to deliver intervention/control task (aim 3). Two changes to the previous study were (i) extending the trauma types included (ii) a new control condition, also by smartphone. METHODS: This is an explorative observational study. Data was both analyzed descriptively and using the Framework method. RESULTS: We identified several possible ways to recruit patients, and establish a sense of embeddedness in the Swedish emergency department context and a positive appreciation from staff. The study protocol was tested with 8 participants. Tasks both in the intervention and control condition were readily delivered via patients’ own smartphones. CONCLUSION: Recruitment of patients and smartphone delivery of the intervention indicates initial feasibility. Researcher presence and administration of study procedures was successfully fitted to emergency department routines and well received by staff. Further pilot work is warranted, underscoring the importance of our collaboration between nursing and psychology. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40814-021-00916-x.