A SMART Evaluation of an Adaptive Web-based AUD Treatment for Service Members and Their Partners

Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of an adaptive web intervention (Partners Connect) on military spouse drinking behaviors (CPs) and service member help-seeking (SMs). The investigators want to identify for whom this intervention is most efficacious and on what drinking behaviors and mechanisms. The investigators hypothesize that the intervention will reduce concerned partner drinking and increase service member help-seeking, compared to website resources, and that phone-based CRAFT will increase help-seeking behaviors, compared to those who are guided via a CRAFT workbook.

Conditions

• Alcohol Abuse
• Alcohol Use Disorder
• Alcohol Drinking
• Relations, Interpersonal
• Military Family

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

CRAFT Web-Based Intervention

Session 1 addresses CPs' mental health issues and drinking. CPs select reasons why they are seeking help and steps they will take towards those goals. Session 2 is focused on improving their relationship through communication exercises. Session 3 is focused on functional analysis of their partner's drinking, and how to positively reinforce their partner's sobriety and negatively reinforce their drinking. Finally, Session 4 focuses on continuing self-care and talking with their partner about their concerns while interacting with them in healthy ways. The WBI contains audio, video, text, and exercises that utilize digital storytelling and vignettes to convey teaching points - a method utilized by the military to address stigma and increase treatment utilization. Actresses portrayed different experiences that the CP may be going through and modeled skills. CPs clicked on the vignette that they most connected with and followed that character across all the sessions.

BEHAVIORAL

Phone-Based CRAFT

The phone-based CRAFT intervention consists of six individual sessions with a CRAFT clinician that will explore what they learned from the WBI and additional skills they need. Session content includes positive reinforcement of non-drinking SM behaviors, refraining from interfering in SM's consequences of alcohol use, communication skills, and self-care.

BEHAVIORAL

CRAFT Workbook

The self-directed CRAFT workbook Table 1.Partners Connect WBI has a parent and partner version that uses CRAFT to help the CP help with understanding, self-care, communication, and actions (e.g., how to react when a partner has been using substances and when they have not been using substances, how to talk to partner so that they are more likely to be heard) and includes more information about communicating than the WBI and several interactive worksheets.

BEHAVIORAL

Gottman Self-Guided Resources

To match time spent reviewing the website, CPs will receive an orientation guide that includes the website URL and a 4-week guide for how they can navigate this website for 20-30 minutes per week (e.g., read article "'It's Not My Fault!': Why Defensiveness is Damaging" and write down one tool to dissolve defensiveness you're willing to try). We will send reminder emails each week to visit the website and include questions in the emails and our first online follow-up survey asking CPs approximately how many times they visited the website and how long they spent viewing content on the website. Reminder emails will be programmed such that CPs get directed automatically to the website if the CP notes no time spent on it.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Southern California

  collaborator OTHER

• RAND

  collaborator OTHER

• Northern California Institute of Research and Education

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

  collaborator NIH

• Stanford University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-06-14

Primary Completion

2027-08-31

Completion

2027-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations