Psychological debriefing for road traffic accident victims - Three-year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial

Background Psychological debriefing is widely used for trauma victims but t here is uncertainty about its efficacy. We have previously reported a rando mised controlled trial which concluded that at 4 months it was ineffective. Aims To evaluate the 3-year outcome in a randomised controlled trial of deb riefing for consecutive subjects admitted to hospital following a road traf fic accident. Method Patients were assessed in hospital by the Impact of Event Scale (IES ), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and questionnaire and re-assessed at 3 mon ths and 3 years. The intervention was psychological debriefing as recommend ed and described in the literature. Results The intervention group had a significantly worse outcome at 3 years in terms of general psychiatric symptoms (BSI), travel anxiety when being a passenger, pain, physical problems, overall level of functioning, and fin ancial problems. Patients who initially had high intrusion and avoidance sy mptoms (IES) remained symptomatic if they had received the intervention, bu t recovered if they did not receive the intervention. Conclusions Psychological debriefing is ineffective and has adverse long-te rm effects. it is not an appropriate treatment for trauma victims. Declaration of interest Grant from the Oxford Region Health Services Resear ch Committee.