Teens Coping With Parental Military Deployment (Helping Hand)
July 3, 2013 updated by: Anthony Spirito, Brown University
Mental Health Intervention for Teens Coping With Parental Military Deployment
The total number of military personnel is over 3.5 million and approximately 43% have children.
The deployment cycle can be associated with depression, anxiety, and behavior problems in children as well as psychological distress in the military spouse.
Further, the health of family members can affect the physical and psychological functioning of the military service member during the deployment and re-integration periods.
While research and federal funding has been dedicated toward developing treatments for the returning service member, intervention protocols for mental health problems in the children of military families have not been tested.
In collaboration with the Family Readiness Program of the Rhode Island National Guard & Reserves, the purpose of this proposal is to develop a cognitive behavioral treatment protocol for adolescents experiencing depression, anxiety, and/or behavior problems associated with the deployment and re-integration phases of the military deployment cycle.
This protocol will be created by modifying an NIH funded cognitive behavioral protocol for the treatment of adolescent mental health problems with initial demonstrated efficacy (PI, C. Esposito-Smythers).
There are three primary aims in this project: 1) develop the manualized intervention protocol for adolescents experiencing mental health problems associated with the deployment cycle; 2) refine and pilot the intervention protocol with 12 families; and 3) test the intervention in a randomized pilot trial.
To accomplish these aims, a two step sequence of treatment development is proposed.
Stage Ia includes initial manual development, focus groups, therapist training, and an open pilot trial.
Stage Ib includes a randomized pilot trial.
Seventy-two adolescents and their caretakers will be enrolled through the Rhode Island Family Readiness program and randomly assigned to the experimental intervention or non-directive supportive therapy for their outpatient care.
The experimental intervention includes 12 adolescent group sessions which address depression, anxiety, and behavior problems associated with the deployment cycle and 12 parent group sessions that address stress management and parenting skills.
The non-directive supportive therapy condition includes 12 adolescent and 12 parent group sessions which involve patient initiated discussions focused on issues surrounding military deployment and re-integration.
Outcome will be assessed at post-treatment and 3 month follow-up.
The long term objective of this research is to yield an effective outpatient intervention for teens of military service members experiencing mental health problems associated with the deployment and re-integration phases of the deployment cycle.
Study Overview
Status
Terminated
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
6
Phase
- Phase 1
Contacts and Locations
This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.
Study Locations
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Rhode Island
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Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02912
- Brown Univerity
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Participation Criteria
Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
13 years to 17 years (CHILD)
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Genders Eligible for Study
All
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
Adolescents must: 1) be 13-17 years old; 2) be English speaking; 3) provide adolescent assent; 4) have parental consent and a parent/legal guardian available to participate in the intervention protocol; 5) have a parent who is deployed or returned from a deployment within the last year; and 6) report current sub-clinical or clinical levels of depression, anxiety, or oppositional behavior. In order to meet the symptom criterion, adolescents must receive a T score of ≥ 65 on the affective problems, anxiety problems, and/or oppositional defiant problems on the Youth Self-Report or the Child Behavior Checklist.
Exclusion Criteria:
Adolescents who : 1) are developmentally delayed such that the intervention materials will not be appropriate; 2) are actively suicidal or psychotic at intake; 3) are receiving pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy in the community for depression, anxiety, or disruptive behavior which are the primary targets of this intervention; or 4) meet current criteria for a DSM-IV diagnosis of bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, substance dependence, or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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Study Plan
This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
- Allocation: RANDOMIZED
- Interventional Model: PARALLEL
- Masking: SINGLE
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
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EXPERIMENTAL: Cognitive behavioral group therapy
Cognitive behavioral group therapy for adolescents and a parallel group for parents
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The CBT group therapy protocol will teach adolescents coping, cognitive restructuring, and affect regulation skills to remediate skills deficits that underlie depression, anxiety, and behavior problems associated with the deployment cycle.
Parents will also learn stress management and parenting skills in their own group therapy sessions that occur as the same time as the adolescent group.
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ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Nondirective supportive group therapy
Nondirective supportive group therapy for adolescents and a parallel group for parents
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Patient initiated discussions form the basis for the intervention for both the adolescent group and the parent group
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What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Time Frame |
|---|---|
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Depressed mood
Time Frame: baseline, posttreatment, 3 month follow-up
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baseline, posttreatment, 3 month follow-up
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Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Time Frame |
|---|---|
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Behavior problems
Time Frame: baseline, posttreatment, 3 month follow-up
|
baseline, posttreatment, 3 month follow-up
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Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Collaborators
Study record dates
These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.
Study Major Dates
Study Start
January 1, 2011
Primary Completion (ACTUAL)
April 1, 2012
Study Completion (ACTUAL)
April 1, 2012
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
May 21, 2010
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
May 21, 2010
First Posted (ESTIMATE)
May 24, 2010
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)
July 4, 2013
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
July 3, 2013
Last Verified
July 1, 2012
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- R34MH082164 (NIH)
This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.