Adapting the Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression Therapy to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence and Promote Psychosocial Recovery in Veteran Couples (MERA-C)
VA Office of Research and Development
Summary
This study will address a pressing unmet need for effective and accessible treatment for Veteran couples with intimate partner violence (IPV). The primary objective is to adapt a brief intervention originally developed to reduce general aggression among individual Veterans with PTSD symptoms (Manage Emotions to Reduce Aggression; MERA) to reduce IPV among Veteran couples. First, the investigators will conduct stakeholder interviews to inform the content, dose, and timing of the adapted MERA-Couples manual (MERA-C). Second, the investigators will examine the preliminary feasibility and acceptability of MERA-C through a single-arm feasibility trial among 10 Veteran couples with IPV. Finally, the investigators will conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial (N= 60 couples) to examine the preliminary within- and between-couple effects of MERA-C versus MERA on (1) participant acceptability and retention and (2) physical and psychological IPV occurrence; emotion regulation; relationship functioning; and psychosocial functioning from pre- to post-treatment and at 1-month follow-up.
Description
SPECIFIC AIMS Intimate partner violence (IPV), which includes a wide spectrum of physical and non-physical behaviors, is a serious and prevalent public health problem that disproportionately affects the Veteran population. IPV is most commonly bidirectional, meaning that both partners in a couple use aggression towards one another at both the couple and the event levels. It is also characterized by lower severity, a high degree of frequency and severity symmetry between partners, and reactive rather than premeditated aggression. IPV directly impacts Veterans Health Administration (VHA) operati…