Reintegration: The Role of Spouse Telephone BATTLEMIND Pilot Study

This study will expand the Department of Defense (DoD) one time, face-to-face post deployment BATTLEMIND training for spouses of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Guard/Reserve service members into year-long, telephone groups focusing on education, skills building and support. The goal is to build spouses' resilience to cope with reintegration, help them serve as a support system for returning service members, and ease the transition for families post-deployment.

There was one intervention. Participants were enrolled in one of 14 telephone groups (each with a trained Group Leader and 6 participants) will focus on education, training in and practice of coping skills and cognitive restructuring (identifying and re-shaping negative and destructive thoughts), and support through 12 hour-long structured sessions. The content, modeled on Soldier BATTLEMIND, targets readjustment concepts based on the letters of BATTLEMIND, including Bonds, Adding and subtracting family roles, Taking control, Talking it out, Loyalty and commitment, Emotional balance, Mental health and readiness, Independence and interdependence, Navigating the system, Denial of self and a concluding session entitled Moving forward.

Depression measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 at baseline, six and 12 months. Scores range from 0-27 with lower scores indicating less depressive symptoms.

Anxiety measured with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder -7 (GAD-7)measured at baseline, six and 12 months. Scores range from 0-21, with lower scores indicating fewer anxiety symptoms.

Measure of marriage quality using Quality Marriage Index at baseline, six and 12 months. Scores range from 6-45 with higher scores indicating better quality of marriage.

Family problem solving measured at baseline, six and 12 months with the F-COPES measure. Scores range from 29-145 with higher scores indicating better coping.

Support measured with the Social Support Index at baseline, six and 12 months. Scores range from 0-68 with higher scores indicating better social support.

Family communication measured with the Family Problem Solving Communication scale at baseline, six and 12 months. Scores range from 0-30 with higher scores indicating better communication.

Inclusion Criteria: have a spouse who participated in OEF/OIF and is at least 1 month post-deployment; if not married, must have lived as married for at least one year; live with the service member when not deployed; have been a spouse/significant other throughout the service member's deployment period; and have a telephone. Exclusion Criteria: current diagnosis of schizophrenia or other major mental illness; auditory impairment that would make telephone use difficult; or service member refusal of assent for spouse to participate.