Harnessing the Power of Military Peers to Reduce Sexual Violence and Risky Drinking in Service Members
State University of New York at Buffalo
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.
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 overc…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–24 years
- Sex
- All
- 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)
Interventions
- BehavioralPeer-Based Motivational Interview
The intervention will use Motivational Interviewing's (MI) collaborative conversation style for strengthening commitment to change, to motivate and prepare service members to work together to reduce Sexual Violence (SV) risk. This intervention will target ways that the peer dyad may support, encourage, and share responsibility with one another in protecting against SV. The Peer-based MI (PMI) will then use the responsibility and relationship of peers as a framework to foster collaborative efforts to increase readiness and decrease barriers to helping behavior. As part of this, the PMI will focus on the identification and implementation of skills peers can use to help one another prevent SV. PMI will include a focused discussion of the ways drinking may impede helping efforts. Moreover, the PMI will encourage service members to identify personal, specific strategies for reducing the effects of alcohol on helping.
- BehavioralHealth and Well-Being for All
This single-session intervention, is designed to be delivered to peers in a group or dyad-based format, examines social determinants of health and wellness across a variety of domains. The intervention outlines a 6-step process for improving overall wellness. The CDC offers a number of handouts and other materials (e.g., peer dialogue exercises, data cards) that accompany the didactic material. In this study, the HWBA intervention will be delivered by a project interventionist. The session will be designed to be time equivalent (90 minutes) to the MPAIRs intervention. (Pember, 2018)
Location
- University at Buffalo Department of PsychologyBuffalo, New York