The Network Study: Soldiers Connecting for Work and Health

Patterns of Alcohol Use and Suicide-related Thoughts Among Recently Discharged Veterans: Risk Factors Associated With the Military-to-Veteran Transition

This study will examine the efficacy of an internet-based brief intervention designed to reduce risky behavior in Soldiers as they transition from Active Duty into the civilian workforce as a Veteran. Up to 700 soldiers intending to separate from the Army will be recruited, with the intention of drawing a final sample of 450 participants. Study participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group, stratified by age and gender.

The combination of alcohol use and negative emotional states is a particularly toxic combination for suicide risk. The current study examines changes in alcohol/drug use/misuse and depression as soldiers undergo the transition from Active Duty to Veteran and offers a personalized internet-based brief intervention intended to prevent/reduce alcohol misuse and depression in this population. The study's objectives are to empirically quantify the form of changes that occur with respect to alcohol use and depression over the transition; to identify stable individual risk factors (e.g., personality, military experiences) and dynamic risk factors (e.g., changes in stressors and normative contexts over time) that may be associated with differential temporal patterns of suicide-related behavior (i.e., alcohol use/misuse) and cognition (i.e., depression); and lastly, to determine whether a simple, internet-delivered brief intervention shown can reduce risky behavior in the transitioning Veteran population.

One group will receive three opportunities to engage with a personalized internet-delivered brief intervention over the course of seven months and the second group will not be granted access.

Participants assigned to the intervention condition will be invited to engage with an internet-based intervention three times during the course of the study.

The internet-delivered brief intervention developed for the study can be accessed via computers and mobile devices.. The intervention will employ assessment data to give study participants feedback on their drinking behavior and offer strategies to avoid risky behavior.

The study will recruit up to 700 soldiers intending to separate from the Army in the initial phase of the study with the intention of securing a final sample of 450. Of the 450, 400 will be selected regardless of gender, but an additional 50 female soldiers will be recruited intentionally.

Inclusion Criteria: Is US solider intending to separate from active duty during the study enrollment period Intends to seek civilian employment Plans to live in US Exclusion Criteria: Plans to retire and not seek civilian employment Plans to live outside of the US Is separating or retiring from the National Guard or Reserves

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