NCT00827879

Strength at Home Couples Program (PTSD-Focused Relationship Enhancement Therapy for Returning Veterans)

Strength at Home Couples Program (Formerly: PTSD-Focused Relationship Enhancement Therapy for Returning Veterans and Their Partners)

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 156 (actual)
• Sponsor: Boston VA Research Institute, Inc. · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of the project is to develop and test a couples-based relationship enhancement group intervention for married or partnered Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/Operation New Dawn (OND) veterans to prevent the perpetration of intimate partner aggression (IPA) among participants.

Detailed description

The focus of this project is to produce a well-defined and standardized intervention, labeled Strength at Home Couples Group, that can improve intimate relationship satisfaction, decrease the likelihood of relationship aggression, increase the intimacy and closeness of the relationship, and help with anger management. We hope to learn more about how to improve relationships, how to prevent anger and violence, and about what factors help people successfully complete treatment. Strength at Home Couples Group will incorporate components of several interventions for PTSD and IPA and will target mechanisms implicated in the PTSD-IPA association. The development of this type of integrated intervention is critical due to high rates of PTSD-IPA co-occurrence and the pressing need to efficiently address both problems among military veterans. Specific aims of this project are: (1) to develop and standardize Strength at Home Couples Group for male combat veterans, including the development of a clinician-friendly intervention manual detailing Strength at Home Couples Group, along with intervention adherence measures and therapist training and certification procedures; (2) to test the efficacy of Strength at Home Couples Group for OEF/OIF/OND veterans by conducting a multiple site randomized trial comparing 10 sessions of Strength at Home Couples Group to 10 sessions of a supportive group therapy (ST) condition; and (3) to explore differences in compliance and process factors across conditions.

Conditions

• Aggression
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorders

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Strength at Home Couples Group	A multiple site randomized trial will compare 10 sessions of PF-RET to 10 sessions of a supportive group therapy. PF-RET focuses on 1) deployment stress and traumatic experiences impacting intimate relationships; 2) communication between intimate partners; 3) conflict and anger management; and 4) closeness and intimacy.
BEHAVIORAL	Supportive Group Therapy	A general support group designed to enhance support for healthy relationship building.

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-02-01
• Primary completion: 2014-10-01
• Completion: 2014-10-01
• First posted: 2009-01-23
• Last updated: 2017-07-12

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States