4 - (SYM 57) International Dissemination of B4DT: Outcomes, Clinical Training Opportunities, and Future Directions

Over 3000 patients with OCD have been effectively treated with the B4DT in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, Finland, Singapore, and the USA. All studies strongly support the effectiveness of this 4-day approach. Post-pandemic international dissemination plans are actively being implemented. Teams from Australia, Kenya, and Ecuador have signed up and will be trained in the B4DT and will complete OCD treatment pilots in 2024. The challenges unique to each country/continent are highlighted, and we will share some examples of lived experiences from therapists and patients in different teams across the various continents. All of this is intended to underscore the importance of providing a culturally sensitive adaptation of the westernized ERP approach. We will report on these efforts, including cultural dissemination challenges, therapist training challenges, treatment outcomes, and key factors/techniques used in B4DT.

To highlight specific challenges, a pilot study of 48 adults with OCD who completed the B4DT in the USA will be described. On the main outcome measure, the clinician-administered Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, the patients scores went from severe range to mild range; specifically, the average scores of 27.04 (pre-treatment) fell to 11.67 (post-treatment), 12.73 (3-months follow-up) and 13.67 (6-month follow-up). Further, 80% of patients demonstrated 35% reduction in the OCD symptom severity. The B4DT was rated as highly acceptable by the US patients. For example, over 95% of the patients stated that they would recommend the treatment to a friend and 86% stated that the treatment met either “almost all” or “most” of their clinical needs. These findings provide the first evidence for the generalizability of the B4DT to patients with OCD in the United States. Cultural and context-dependent issues that affected this dissemination pilot study are discussed in addition to future clinical and research directions.