Career Enhancement Training Study Delivered Across Career Phases

Summary

This trial tests the effectiveness of the Wingman-Connect Program delivered by USAF personnel on individual suicide risk. Randomization will be among classes at Initial Technical Training, in which 396 classes of USAF personnel will be randomized to Wingman-Connect or to an active control training (N=2,970 Airmen) and followed for one year. These classes send a proportion of graduates to Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) \& Air Mobility Command (AMC) operational bases.

Conditions

• Suicide Prevention
• Suicide

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Wingman-Connect

Training occurs in three 2-hr blocks over several days in class groups. Targeted Skills focus on protective factors (Four Cores) supportive of mental health, theoretically linked to reduced suicide risk, and essential to an Airmen's job success: (1) Healthy relationships and accountability spanning USAF and family/intimate relationships (Kinship); (2) Meaning and value in work and life (Purpose), (3) Informal and formal help-seeking (Guidance); and (4) Activities that give strength and balance emotions (Balance). Activities progress from individual to group skill-building activities. Kinship modules at operational base (FTAC) expand focus on growing and sustaining relationships with intimate partners, friends, and family; and Guidance more on senior mentors at work. To extend training impact, facilitators implement activities once per quarter that bring concepts into base activities. Six months of text messages (1-2 per week) to reinforce and extend program concepts and skills.

BEHAVIORAL

Stress Management

Stress management training (also done in class groups) reviews the basics of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress-response system; common experiences of stress (physiological, cognitive, emotional); the impact of chronic stress on the brain and other domains of health; how exercise reduces harmful effects of stress; and relaxation techniques that have been shown to reduce stress and adverse effects of stress on health. Additional modules review the physiological stress response and effects of stress on health; introduces how cognition influences stress responses; common cognitive distortions/attributions are reviewed that affect stress including strategies to strengthen protective cognitive responses. Six months of text messages (1-2 per week) to reinforce and extend program concepts and skills.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Rochester

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

40 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-01-27

Primary Completion

2028-02-28

Completion

2028-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations