ISTSS 36th Annual Meeting
Bridging Science and Practice to Reach Underserved Communities
Barriers, Opportunities and Innovations
VIRTUAL
November 4–14, 2020
Pre-Meeting Institutes: October 26–31
The field of traumatic stress is at an exciting point in its history with significant advances in the scientific understanding of important factors that influence psychological adjustment following trauma exposure. However, there is a continued struggle to translate this large and growing evidence base to practice to most effectively meet the needs of those exposed to trauma. This gap is particularly apparent for the hardest-to-reach and most vulnerable populations. That is, despite a proliferation of research, we know that most trauma-exposed individuals will not access evidence-based support. Some of the challenges to broader dissemination and application of existing scientific knowledge include high burden associated with training clinicians; feasibility challenges for patients seeking to engage in evidence-based care; treatment approaches that are complex, burdensome and lengthy; and cross-cultural differences that interfere with treatment acceptability and feasibility in certain populations.
To address this need, the 36th Annual Meeting of ISTSS will provide cutting-edge presentations that highlight the most up-to-date, innovative and novel work being conducted by diverse professionals devoted to the study of traumatic stress across the globe. Goals of the meeting are to increase discussion around the most effective ways to disseminate empirically based assessment and treatment techniques; methods for streamlining treatments to make them easier to deliver and receive; adaptations that make interventions a better fit for diverse populations; and basic and applied science findings that can be used to make our interventions more targeted, precise, mechanistic and ultimately easier to deliver. Taken together, a bridging of science and practice is necessary to meaningfully enhance recovery and resilience following trauma exposure in diverse settings and the 2020 ISTSS Annual Meeting aspires to showcase and promote novel and innovative work in this area.
Learning Objectives
- Discuss emerging scientific evidence that can inform and propel dissemination of evidence based approaches to assessment and treatment of trauma related problems.
- Identify unique challenges to providing evidence based care, including in low resource, underserved settings, and recognize potential approaches to improving access to care.
- Describe novel ways that treatments are being adapted to improve targeting of symptoms as well as decrease burden and difficulties associated with accessing care.
- Discuss the latest innovations in mechanism research, as a means of improving the precision of prevention and intervention approaches