Telephone Support During Overseas Deployment for Military Spouses

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Military Personnel
Deployment
Family Members
Resilience, Psychological

Interventions: Behavioral: Telephone support groups
Other: Education webinars

Brief Summary: Deployment impacts both service member and family, and the cost can be high. Spouses' reactions to deployment may include emotional distress, loneliness, anticipatory fear or grief, somatic complaints, and depression. The goal is to help spouses learn ways to manage stress and solve problems related to deployment and reintegration, communication, managing long distance relationships, and other common problems. The study will compare telephone support groups to online education sessions. The study will enroll 160 spouses. In the Telephone Support groups, a group leader and participants will meet 12 times over six months to focus on education, skills building and support. Education Only online sessions will provide the same education content, without skills building or support. Content includes strategies to reduce or eliminate communication difficulties during deployment, how to find help; practical concerns during deployment; fostering resilience and decreasing stress; fostering relationships while apart, negotiating roles and relationships; changes during deployment; strategies to support the spouse and the service member; and cues to alert spouses when to seek mental health services for the family or themselves. Outcomes will include resilience, depression, anxiety and coping behaviors. Telephone data collection will be conducted at baseline, six and twelve months.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

spouse or significant other (living as married for at least one year before deployment) of an overseas deployed military service member
deployed at least six months

Exclusion Criteria

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Telephone support groups	Telephone support groups	Telephone support groups, each with participants and a trained group leader. Each hour-long telephone group will meet bi-monthly for six months for a total of 12 meetings. Groups are structured with education, skills building, and support. Participants will receive and use a Spouse Workbook with information and activities.
Education webinars	Education webinars	Education Webinar session topics are the same that are covered in the intervention arm without telephone interaction/support and skills building components. Each session is 30-minutes. Each participant receives a Spouse Workbook with information and activities.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Spouse Self-report of Resilience	Baseline, 6 months	Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) measured at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Scores range from 0-100. Higher scores equal greater resilience.
Spouse Self Report of Anxiety	baseline, and 6 months	Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) measured at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Scores range from 0 to 21; higher scores equal more anxiety.
Spouse Self Report of Depression	Baseline, 6 months	Patient Health Questionnaire - Depression (PHQ)-9 measured at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Scores range from 0-27 with higher scores indicating more depressive symptoms.