The Network Study: Soldiers Connecting for Work and Health

May 24, 2023 updated by: Cornell University

Patterns of Alcohol Use and Suicide-related Thoughts Among Recently Discharged Veterans: Risk Factors Associated With the Military-to-Veteran Transition

This study will examine the efficacy of an internet-based brief intervention designed to reduce risky behavior in Soldiers as they transition from Active Duty into the civilian workforce as a Veteran. Up to 700 soldiers intending to separate from the Army will be recruited, with the intention of drawing a final sample of 450 participants. Study participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group, stratified by age and gender.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Detailed Description

The combination of alcohol use and negative emotional states is a particularly toxic combination for suicide risk. The current study examines changes in alcohol/drug use/misuse and depression as soldiers undergo the transition from Active Duty to Veteran and offers a personalized internet-based brief intervention intended to prevent/reduce alcohol misuse and depression in this population.

The study's objectives are to empirically quantify the form of changes that occur with respect to alcohol use and depression over the transition; to identify stable individual risk factors (e.g., personality, military experiences) and dynamic risk factors (e.g., changes in stressors and normative contexts over time) that may be associated with differential temporal patterns of suicide-related behavior (i.e., alcohol use/misuse) and cognition (i.e., depression); and lastly, to determine whether a simple, internet-delivered brief intervention shown can reduce risky behavior in the transitioning Veteran population.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

450

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Samuel Bacharach, Ph.D.
  • Phone Number: 212-340-2850
  • Email: sb22@cornell.edu

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

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

18 years to 62 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Is US solider intending to separate from active duty during the study enrollment period
  • Intends to seek civilian employment
  • Plans to live in US

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Plans to retire and not seek civilian employment
  • Plans to live outside of the US
  • Is separating or retiring from the National Guard or Reserves

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Intervention condition
Participants assigned to the intervention condition will be invited to engage with an internet-based intervention three times during the course of the study.
The internet-delivered brief intervention developed for the study can be accessed via computers and mobile devices.. The intervention will employ assessment data to give study participants feedback on their drinking behavior and offer strategies to avoid risky behavior.
No Intervention: Control
The control group will not be offered the internet-based intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Heavy Episodic Drinking
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Description Single Alcohol Screening Question (SASQ) (Williams and Vinson, 2001)
Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Change in Modal alcohol consumption
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ) (Collins, Parks, & Marlatt, 1985)
Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Change in Negative Emotional State -- Depression
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9
Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Alcohol-related problems
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Short Rutgers Alcohol Problems Index (S-RAPI) (Earleywine, LaBrie & Pedersen)
Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Change in Suicidal ideation
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Measure developed by Nock et al., 2007
Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Employment
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months
Current job situation/Change employment
Through study completion, an average of monthly over 15 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Samuel Bacharach, Ph.D., Cornell University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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 (Actual)

March 30, 2021

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 28, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 31, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 24, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 3, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

July 9, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 26, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 24, 2023

Last Verified

May 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB0009650
  • W81XWH1920001;CDMRP-BA160401 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Department of Defense)

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

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.

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