Spouse READI (Resilience Education And Deployment Information) Post Deployment Telephone Support Groups (Spouse READI)

This 12-month study is for spouses or significant others of service members who have returned from Afghanistan or Iraq. This study will determine if participating in a telephone discussion group, offering education, skills building, and support, will help increase post-deployment adjustment. There will be 225 spouses recruited for this study.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Coping Skills; Military Personnel; Spouses
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Telephone Discussion Groups; Behavioral: Education sessions

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 228
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Tennessee
    • Memphis, Tennessee, United States, 38104
      • Memphis VA Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. have a spouse who participated in a deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan and is at least 1 month post-deployment
2. if not married, must have lived as married for at least one year
3. must be committed to the relationship
4. have a telephone.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. known deployment of spouse in the next six months
2. auditory impairment that would make telephone use difficult.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Telephone Discussion Groups; Each telephone discussion group will meet 12 times during six months. The one-hour calls will be semi-structured conference calls with education, training in coping skills and cognitive restructuring, and support. A Participant Workbook will include comprehensive materials for all sessions and topics, other resources, and red flag resources - areas that may exacerbate problems, add a level of difficulty or distress, and/or indicate a need for referrals (e.g., unsafe behaviors, substance abuse, spouse abuse, PTSD, depression, traumatic brain injury).	Behavioral: Telephone Discussion Groups; Each telephone discussion group will meet 12 times during six months. The one-hour calls will be semi-structured conference calls with education, training in coping skills and cognitive restructuring, and support. A Participant Workbook will include comprehensive materials for all sessions and topics, other resources, and red flag resources - areas that may exacerbate problems, add a level of difficulty or distress, and/or indicate a need for referrals (e.g., unsafe behaviors, substance abuse, spouse abuse, PTSD, depression, traumatic brain injury).
Active Comparator: Education sessions; Participants will have 12 sessions (delivered using slides and telephone) that cover the same education content, without skills building or support, over six months. They will also receive the Participant Workbook.	Behavioral: Education sessions; Participants will have 12 sessions (delivered using slides and telephone) that cover the same education content, without skills building or support, over six months. They will also receive the Participant Workbook.
No Intervention: Usual Care; Participants do not receive any services.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Spouse Self-report of Anxiety	Anxiety symptoms from the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale, measured from 0-21, higher scores indicate greater anxiety	Baseline, 6 months, and 12 months
Spouse Self-report of Depression	Depression symptoms as measured on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), measured from 0-27, with higher numbers indicating more depression	Baseline, 6 months, and 12 months
Spouse Self-report of Resilience	Resilience as measured on the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, measured from 0-100; higher scores show greater resilience	Baseline, 6 months, and 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Memphis VA Medical Center
• Collaborators: U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Linda O Nichols, Ph.D., Memphis VA Medical Center and University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Principal Investigator: Jennifer L Martindale-Adams, Ed.D., University of Tennessee Health Science Center and VA Medical Center Memphis

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Nichols, L.O., Martindale-Adams, J., Zuber, J., Graney, M., Burns, R., & Clark, C. Support for Spouses of Post Deployment Service Members. Military Behavioral Health, Published online: 30 Jan 2015. DOI:10.1080/21635781.2015.1009210
• Nichols L.O., Martindale-Adams, J., Zuber, J., & Graney, M. Service Member Need and Supportive Services Use of Military/Veteran Spouses. Military Behavioral Health, Published online: 09 Feb 2015, DOI:10.1080/21635781.2014.995251

Helpful Links

• Related Info

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2009
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2013
• Study Completion (Actual): February 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 7, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 11, 2010
• First Posted (Estimate): May 12, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 30, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 20, 2017
• Last Verified: October 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Support; Combat disorders; Military personnel; Spouses
• Other Study ID Numbers: W81XWH-09-1-0242

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No