Supporting the Mental Health Needs of Military Partners Through the Together Webinar Program: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Laura Josephine Hendrikx, Dominic Murphy, Laura Josephine Hendrikx, Dominic Murphy

Abstract

Background: Despite an increased risk of psychological difficulties, there remains a lack of evidence-based support for the mental health needs of military partners.

Objective: This study aims to investigate whether the Together Webinar Programme (TTP-Webinar), a 6-week structured, remote access group intervention would reduce military partners' experience of common mental health difficulties and secondary trauma symptoms.

Methods: A pilot randomized controlled trial was used to compare the TTP-Webinar intervention with a waitlist control. The sample was UK treatment-seeking veterans engaged in a mental health charity. A total of 196 military partners (1 male and 195 females; aged mean 42.28, SD 10.82 years) were randomly allocated to the intervention (n=97) or waitlist (n=99) condition. Outcome measures were self-reported measures of common mental health difficulties, secondary trauma symptoms, and overall quality of life rating.

Results: Compared with the waitlist, military partners in the TTP-Webinar had reduced common mental health difficulties (P=.02) and secondary trauma symptoms (P=.001). However, there was no difference in quality-of-life ratings (P=.06).

Conclusions: The results suggest that TTP-Webinar is an effective intervention to support the mental health difficulties of military partners. This study provides promising evidence that webinars may be an appropriate platform for providing group-based support.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05013398; https://ichgcp.net/clinical-trials-registry/NCT05013398.

Keywords: mental health support; military partners; online group-based support.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

©Laura Josephine Hendrikx, Dominic Murphy. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (https://mental.jmir.org), 12.10.2021.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graphical layout of participant flow in this study. TTP-Webinar: The Together Webinar Programme; WL: waitlist.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Results of a repeated measures analysis of variance of mean general psychological distress ratings of military partners, per condition (2019). Error bars represent the SEs. GHQ-12: General Health Questionnaire-12.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Results of a repeated measures analysis of variance of mean secondary trauma symptom scores of military partners, per condition (2019). Error bars represent the SEs. STSS: Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale.

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