The Effects of a Cognitive Behavioral Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Project Summary. The candidate, Ms. Alexis Tola, is a first year PhD student. She is motivated to engage in an academic research career, with a focus on cardiovascular health aspects of PTSD, and was recruited as a primary PhD mentee of the project PI. Ms. Tola is of Hispanic minority status (Ecuadorian). Her interests and objectives related to the parent project include the relationship of stress levels, socioeconomic status, and PTSD severity to CVD risks and the intervention outcomes, as well as the relationships of medication use to the intervention outcomes. While PTSD is established as an independent risk for CVD, her proposed research will advance knowledge in the field regarding the relative associations with PTSD severity levels, and the additive effects of medication use, on CVD risks and risk-reduction. Her focus on sociodemographic factors and health in PTSD will add valuable perspectives to the parent study in terms of potential mediating of roles of stress and SES on the intervention outcomes. Further research is needed on the roles of these sociodemographic factors in PTSD and CVD risk, particularly in the diverse sample anticipated from the parent study.