Behavioral Economics Intervention to Increase Treatment Seeking in the National Guard (BEAST)

The study is a randomized controlled trial of a single-session behavioral economics (research combining the areas of economics, social psychology, and cognitive psychology) intervention (i.e., BEAST) is a"warrior-culture" consistent (i.e., focusing on positive soldier traits, solving practical problems), highly scalable, and extremely brief (10-minute) intervention to encourage treatment seeking among MS National Guard problems for various life stressors. Participants will be 112 National Guard members. It is hypothesized that BEAST will lead to more self-reported motivation to seek treatment and more actual treatment seeking behavior.

Study Overview

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Conditions: Treatment Refusal
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: BEAST; Behavioral: Descriptive Feedback

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 112
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Mississippi
    • Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States, 39406-0002
      • University of Southern Mississippi

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• National Guard active
• > 17 ACSS-FAD

Exclusion Criteria:

• those determined by military or study personnel to be actively psychotic, manic, or who are imminently suicidal and in need of emergency services.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: BEAST; There are 3 parts to BEAST. Part 1 involves the Behavioral Nudge technique using previously collected injunctive and descriptive norms from a National Guard sample. Soldiers will be given a customized feedback form that shows norms relevant to the target behavior they selected. The soldier will be given a chance to ask any follow-up questions. Part 2 of the intervention focuses on the principle of targeting others, considering how a change would impact those closest to them. Part 3 will utilize the Reciprocal Concessions procedure combined with the Reducing Barriers technique.	Behavioral: BEAST; See Arm Description
Active Comparator: Descriptive Feedback; This condition will involve a presentation of descriptive data based on the soldiers' tests scores and an opportunity to ask any follow-up questions. This process is a component of some behavioral change interventions (e.g., motivational interviewing); therefore this should be a more useful control condition (mirroring parts 1 and 2 of the active condition) versus a more passive or waitlist control condition. Participants in the control condition will also be given standard referral information to the USM Psychology Clinic (mirroring part 3 of the active condition).	Behavioral: Descriptive Feedback; See Arm Description

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Psychosocial Treatments Interview-Revised	Measure changes in treatment seeking behavior	1 month post intervention
University of Rhode Island Change Assessment	Measure motivation to change the target behavior	1 month post intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Psychosocial Treatments Interview-Revised	Measure changes in treatment seeking behavior	3 month post intervention
University of Rhode Island Change Assessment	Measure motivation to change the target behavior	3 month post intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southern Mississippi
• Collaborators: Military Suicide Research Consortium

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 15, 2019
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): March 29, 2023
• Study Completion (Anticipated): March 29, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 18, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 18, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): September 23, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 4, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 3, 2022
• Last Verified: October 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: W81XWH-16-2-0003

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: After the study is completed will discuss with Department of Defense /Military Suicide Research Consortium on ability to share IPD.

Drug and device information, study documents

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