Harnessing the Power of Military Peers to Reduce Sexual Violence and Risky Drinking in Service Members
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Recruiting
- Enrollment
- 24
- Locations
- 2
- Primary Endpoint
- Readiness to intervene
Study Overview
Brief Summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to test if a modified peer-based motivational intervention (the Military PAIRS; MPAIRS) is reasonable and practical for military contexts. The main questions it aims to answer are:
- Does it works to reduce SV?
- Does it works to reduce risky drinking? To test this, participants will answer questions about their SV history and risky drinking. Then they will be given MPAIRS. After 1 month, they will be asked about their SV history and risky drinking again.
Detailed Description
The objective of the proposed study is to adapt an innovative, peer-based motivational interview (PMI) that encourages and prepares peers to reduce sexual violence (SV) risk. Delivered to pairs of peers (dyads), the PMI will be designed to foster collaborative efforts to increase readiness for, and decrease barriers to helping behavior, and to teach and plan together for assault prevention skills. As the role of alcohol has been under-addressed in SV prevention efforts, the PMI also will explicitly attend to how intoxication may serve as a barrier to peer intervention, and strategies for overcoming this barrier. The completion of this project's aims will yield a novel intervention that capitalizes on the natural resource of military responsibility to decrease risk for sexual violence - a pervasive problem affecting a substantial portion of military service members in the U.S.
Twelve peer dyads will participate in the peer-based motivational interview (PMI). The study will compare the participants at baseline to themselves at a 1 month follow up on outcomes. The study will focus on whether effects are in the expected direction and whether the strength of effect sizes are of practical magnitude. It is expected that participants will demonstrate significant increases in readiness, and engagement in peer assault prevention behavioral skills (PAPBs), and demonstrate decreases in perceived barriers. Follow-up data will be utilized to provide a rich description of the role of alcohol in implementing PAPBs, and whether the PMI reduces the impact of alcohol use. In exploratory analyses, it will be examined whether the intervention may be associated with decreased assault risk, as well as decreased drinking.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Na
- Intervention Model
- Single Group
- Primary Purpose
- Prevention
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 18 Years to 24 Years (Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- •Enlisted U.S. Navy service members on active duty status
- •Meet criteria for risky drinking (i.e. score of 4+ for men, 2+ for women according to the AUDIT-C)
- •Have an eligible peer and the pair must socialize together at least twice a month
Exclusion Criteria
- •Individuals who endorse evidence of withdrawal (Item 6 on the AUDIT)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Readiness to intervene
Time Frame: Baseline and 1 month followup
10 item scale scored on a 5 point likert type scale with higher value indicating they are more ready to intervene on behalf of the other member of the dyad in areas of concern for abuse. Modeled after: Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University (2010). Readiness Ruler. Center for Evidence-Based Practices, Case Western Reserve University.
Peer -Directed Bystander Behaviors Scale for Friends
Time Frame: Baseline and 1 month follow up
44 item scale. The answers provided are yes/no/"I did not perceive an opportunity to do this" for each item in 3 different contexts (Friend, Stranger, Someone in Military). Each item is a situation that the participant may have been in to help someone in the past month. The participant reports if they did that helped, didn't help, or didn't have that situation for each context. Banyard, V. L., Moynihan, M. M., Cares, A. C., \& Warner, R. A. (2014). How do we know if it works? Defining measurable outcomes in bystander-focused violence prevention. Psychology of Violence, 4(1), 101-115.
Assault Protective Strategies
Time Frame: Baseline and 1 month follow up
20 item scale. It is scored on a 4 point likert type scale with an option for "I prefer to not answer" and an option for "I did not perceive an opportunity to do this". The scale is made up of items of strategies that people do either before going out, or while they are out to reduce risk for sexual assault. The participant reports to what extent they use each strategy with a higher number meaning they use the strategy to a greater extent.
PBSS-20 Alcohol Protective Strategy
Time Frame: Baseline and 1 month follow up
20 item scale. It is scored on a 6 point likert type scale. The scale is made up of items of different strategies people often use to protect against negative consequences of alcohol use. The participant reports to what extent they use each strategy with a higher number meaning they use the strategy to a greater extent. Treloar H, Martens MP, McCarthy DM. The Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale-20: improved content validity of the Serious Harm Reduction subscale. Psychol Assess. 2015 Mar;27(1):340-6. doi: 10.1037/pas0000071.
Secondary Outcomes
No secondary outcomes reported
Investigators
Jennifer Read
SUNY Distinguished Professor and Chair of Department of Psychology
State University of New York at Buffalo