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The intervention efficacy or effectiveness hierarchy, however, is still not clear. Therefore, we propose to conduct a network meta-analysis to assess the relative effectiveness of various types of DTPs. We aim to establish the differential effectiveness of these therapies in terms of symptom reduction and provide high-quality evidence for treating PTSD.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods and analyses<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We will search Embase, CINAHL, MEDLINE, HealthSTAR, the Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, PubMed, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, clinical trials (eg, ClinicalTrials.gov) and other academic platforms for relevant studies, mainly in English and Chinese (as we plan to conduct a trial on PTSD patients in Wuhan, China, based on the results of this network meta-analysis), from inception to October 2020. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses investigating the effectiveness of any DTPs for PTSD patients for any controlled condition will be included. The number of intervention sessions and the research duration are unlimited; the effects for different durations will be tested via sensitivity analysis. For this project, the primary measure of outcome will be PTSD symptoms at the end of treatment using raw scores for one widely used PTSD scale, PCL-5. Secondary outcome measures will include (1) dropout rate; (2) effectiveness at longest follow-up, but not more than 12 months and (3) patients\u2019 functional recovery ratio (such as the return-to-work ratio or percentage of sick leave). Bayesian network meta-analysis will be conducted for all relative outcome measures. We will perform subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis to see whether the results are influenced by study characteristics. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessments, Development, and Evaluation framework will be adopted to evaluate the quality of evidence contributing to network estimates of the primary outcome.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Ethics and dissemination<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The researchers of the primary trials already have had ethical approval for the data used in our study. We will present the results of this\nmeta-analysis at academic conferences and publish them in peer-reviewed\njournals.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>PROSPERO registration number<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>CRD42020173253.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2020-038951","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,10]],"date-time":"2020-12-10T09:04:44Z","timestamp":1607591084000},"page":"e038951","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Study protocol for a network meta-analysis of digital-technology-based psychotherapies for PTSD in adults"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7072-7457","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Longtao","family":"He","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, Sichuan, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yanling","family":"Geng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Social Work, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shanxi, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yangu","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, Sichuan, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jinhui","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Evidence-Based Medicine Centre & School of Basic Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xinyu","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Social Development, Xihua University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiangshu","family":"Deng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, Sichuan, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wenjie","family":"Duan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Social Work, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Huamin","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Social Work and Social Policy, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025120520442686000_10.12.e038951.1","first-page":"78","article-title":"\u7a81\u53d1\u516c\u5171\u536b\u751f\u4e8b\u4ef6\u5fc3\u7406\u5371\u673a\u5e72\u9884 \u7a76\u8fdb\u5c55 [Mental intervention research status quo for public health emergencies]","volume":"27","author":"Jian","year":"2014","journal-title":"Medicine and Society"},{"key":"2025120520442686000_10.12.e038951.2","first-page":"1139","article-title":"\u7a81\u53d1\u516c\u5171\u536b\u751f\u4e8b\u4ef6\u4e0b\u7684\u7fa4\u4f53\u5fc3\u7406\u53cd\u5e94\u4e0e\u5e72\u9884 [Group response and intervention for public health emergencies]","volume":"14","author":"Su","year":"2005","journal-title":"Chinese Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science"},{"key":"2025120520442686000_10.12.e038951.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2004.12.006"},{"key":"2025120520442686000_10.12.e038951.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"American Psychological Association . 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