This study will examine the efficacy of an internet-based brief intervention designed to reduce risky behavior in Soldiers as they transition from Active Duty into the civilian workforce as a Veteran. Up to 700 soldiers intending to separate from the Army will be recruited, with the intention of drawing a final sample of 450 participants. Study participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group, stratified by age and gender.
The combination of alcohol use and negative emotional states is a particularly toxic combination for suicide risk. The current study examines changes in alcohol/drug use/misuse and depression as soldiers undergo the transition from Active Duty to Veteran and offers a personalized internet-based brief intervention intended to prevent/reduce alcohol misuse and depression in this population. The study's objectives are to empirically quantify the form of changes that occur with respect to alcohol use and depression over the transition; to identify stable individual risk factors (e.g., personality, military experiences) and dynamic risk factors (e.g., changes in stressors and normative contexts over time) that may be associated with differential temporal patterns of suicide-related behavior (i.e., alcohol use/misuse) and cognition (i.e., depression); and lastly, to determine whether a simple, internet-delivered brief intervention shown can reduce risky behavior in the transitioning Veteran population.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
450
The internet-delivered brief intervention developed for the study can be accessed via computers and mobile devices.. The intervention will employ assessment data to give study participants feedback on their drinking behavior and offer strategies to avoid risky behavior.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Tacoma, Washington, United States
RECRUITINGChange in Heavy Episodic Drinking
Description Single Alcohol Screening Question (SASQ) (Williams and Vinson, 2001)
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Change in Modal alcohol consumption
Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ) (Collins, Parks, \& Marlatt, 1985)
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Change in Negative Emotional State -- Depression
The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Change in Alcohol-related problems
Short Rutgers Alcohol Problems Index (S-RAPI) (Earleywine, LaBrie \& Pedersen)
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Change in Suicidal ideation
Measure developed by Nock et al., 2007
Time frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
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