Using a Brief Visuospatial Interference Intervention to Reduce Intrusive Memories Among Trauma Exposed Women

Number of intrusive memories of traumatic event recorded by participants in a diary daily (morning, afternoon, evening and night) for one week during the baseline phase and each week during the intervention phase (week 1-6) and during one week at one month follow-up and three month follow-up.

How often did you manage to play Tetris after you experienced an intrusive memory? (11-point scale; 0 = not at all; 10 = every time).

Feasibility and Acceptability of the intervention assessed with two self-rated items, "Would you recommend playing Tetris to a friend?" and "Do you consider gameplay to be an acceptable way to reduce the daily frequency of intrusive memories?". Scores could range from 0 - 10 with higher scores indicating greater acceptability/feasibility.

Two open-ended questions: 1. "How did you feel about playing Tetris after you had an intrusive memory?" 2. "Did you find the intervention helpful? If yes, how?"

Six self-rated items to assess the impact of intrusive memories on concentration, sleep, and stress in the past week. 2 items assessing concentration difficulties in general and due to intrusive memories (11-point scale; high scores indicating more difficulties). 2 items assessing sleep disturbances due to intrusive memories (11-point scale; higher scores indicating more sleep disturbance); and 1 item assessing to what degree intrusive memories affected stress levels (0 = not at all; 10 = affected very much).

1 item assessing for how long intrusive memories disrupted concentration on average on a 6-point scale (0 = <1 minute - 6 = > 60 minutes)

Two items both rated on an 11-point scale: 1. "During the last week, how distressing were your intrusive memories (0 = not at all; 10 = very distressing). 2. During the last week, how vivid were your intrusive memories (0 = not at all; 10= very vivid)

Adherence to the intrusion diary assessed with 1 item: "How accurately did you fill out the diary?" (0= not at all; 10 = very accurately)

The PCL-5 is a short 20-item self-report scale used to assess the severity of PTSD symptoms corresponding to the DSM-5 criteria for PTSD. Symptoms are rated from 0-4. Higher scores indicate greater severity.

The PHQ-9 is a 9-item self-report measure of depression symptoms and the severity of those symptoms. Each item can be scored from 0 (i.e., not at all) to 3 (i.e., nearly every day).

The GAD-7 is a brief self-report questionnaire designed as a screening tool for symptoms of general anxiety disorder and their severity. Each item can be scored from 0 (i.e., not at all) to 3 (i.e., nearly every day).

The SDS is a self-report questionnaire which is designed to assess functional impairment across three domains: (1) Work/school, (2) social, and (3) family life. These domains are measured on an 11-point scale which ranges from 0 (i.e., not at all) to 10 (i.e., extremely). The scale will be adjusted to assess impairment associated with intrusive memories.

Two questions assessing the impact intrusive memories have on functioning in daily life. One question is open-ended: "Have the intrusive memories affected your ability to function in your daily life in the past week? If yes, how?" and one question is self-rated: "Have the intrusive memories affected your ability to function in your daily life?" (11-point scale, higher score indicate greater impact on functioning.)