Evaluation of a Brief Marriage Intervention for Internal Behavioral Health Consultants in Military Primary Care

Summary

The psychological health of military members is a critical element of force health protection and readiness. Frequent deployments and high operations tempo at home strain the relationships and families of today's military more than ever before (e.g., Karney \& Crown, 2007). Since 2001 the likelihood of divorce in the Air Force increased with the number of days that Airmen were deployed (Karney \& Crown, 2007). Distressed relationships not only adversely affect members' adjustment and readiness (e.g., Hoge et al., 2006) but also are centrally implicated in suicides (i.e., relationship problems are the precipitating event in 51% of Air Force suicides, Kindt, 2009) and domestic violence (Pan, Neidig, \& O'Leary, 1994). Unfortunately, traditional sources of marriage counseling available to service members are largely underutilized. The MC brings a fresh perspective that helps normalize relationship help-seeking and in turn reach larger numbers of distressed couples early. The partnering of MC and integrated primary care appears to be an ideal combination of behavioral health innovations that has the potential to measurably enhance relationship health for the military services.

Conditions

• Marriage

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Marriage Checkup

The MC adapted for primary care consists of three 30-minute appointments with the IBHC. Session 1 consists of discussing the of the couple's relationship history and each partner's primary strengths. Session 2 focuses on each partner's primary concern about the relationship. Session 3 is dedicated to providing feedback for the couple that identifies strengths, areas for possible improvement, and a menu of possible strategies or resources for the couple to consider pursuing.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Clark University

  collaborator OTHER

• 59th Medical Wing

  collaborator FED

• Malcolm Grow Medical Clinics and Surgery Center

  collaborator FED

• 359th Medical Operations Squadron

  collaborator FED

• Wright State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jeffrey A Cigrang, Ph.D. · Wright State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-02-29

Primary Completion

2020-08-31

Completion

2020-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations