Mental Health Intervention for Teens Coping With Parental Military Deployment

The total number of military personnel is over 3.5 million and approximately 43% have children. The deployment cycle can be associated with depression, anxiety, and behavior problems in children as well as psychological distress in the military spouse. Further, the health of family members can affect the physical and psychological functioning of the military service member during the deployment and re-integration periods. While research and federal funding has been dedicated toward developing treatments for the returning service member, intervention protocols for mental health problems in the children of military families have not been tested. In collaboration with the Family Readiness Program of the Rhode Island National Guard & Reserves, the purpose of this proposal is to develop a cognitive behavioral treatment protocol for adolescents experiencing depression, anxiety, and/or behavior problems associated with the deployment and re-integration phases of the military deployment cycle. This protocol will be created by modifying an NIH funded cognitive behavioral protocol for the treatment of adolescent mental health problems with initial demonstrated efficacy (PI, C. Esposito-Smythers). There are three primary aims in this project: 1) develop the manualized intervention protocol for adolescents experiencing mental health problems associated with the deployment cycle; 2) refine and pilot the intervention protocol with 12 families; and 3) test the intervention in a randomized pilot trial. To accomplish these aims, a two step sequence of treatment development is proposed. Stage Ia includes initial manual development, focus groups, therapist training, and an open pilot trial. Stage Ib includes a randomized pilot trial. Seventy-two adolescents and their caretakers will be enrolled through the Rhode Island Family Readiness program and randomly assigned to the experimental intervention or non-directive supportive therapy for their outpatient care. The experimental intervention includes 12 adolescent group sessions which address depression, anxiety, and behavior problems associated with the deployment cycle and 12 parent group sessions that address stress management and parenting skills. The non-directive supportive therapy condition includes 12 adolescent and 12 parent group sessions which involve patient initiated discussions focused on issues surrounding military deployment and re-integration. Outcome will be assessed at post-treatment and 3 month follow-up. The long term objective of this research is to yield an effective outpatient intervention for teens of military service members experiencing mental health problems associated with the deployment and re-integration phases of the deployment cycle.