https://aub.ie/MilitaryREACH-Osilla2022

Osilla, K. C., Rodriguez, L. M., Neighbors, C., & Pedersen, E. R. (2022). Effects of a web-based intervention in reducing drinking among concerned partners of military service members and veterans. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 11(1), 4-14. https://doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000201

Partners Connect is a web-based intervention for spouses of Service members/Veterans (SM/Vs) aimed at reducing their own and their SM/V’s problematic drinking behaviors (i.e., drinks per week, drinking days per week, and frequency of heavy drinking episodes). At preintervention, 161 spouses reported on their own and their SM/V’s drinking behaviors prior to being randomized into either the intervention (n = 99) or the waitlist control group (n = 62). All spouses reported on their own and their SM/V’s drinking behaviors again at 3 months postintervention. Spouses who cut back on their drinks per week and drinking days per week generally perceived reductions in their SM/V’s number of drinks and drinking days per week.

https://doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000201

Couples
Substance use
Mental health
Programming

Multiple branches
Air Force
Army
Marine Corps
Navy

Active Duty

Spouse of service member or veteran

Adulthood (18 yrs & older)
Young adulthood (18 - 29 yrs)
Thirties (30 - 39 yrs)
Middle age (40 - 64 yrs)

Quantitative Study
Longitudinal Study
Secondary Analysis

Osilla, Karen Chan, Rodriguez, Lindsey M., Neighbors, Clayton, Pedersen, Eric R.

Military personnel and their partners report greater alcohol use and related problems compared to their civilian counterparts. We designed a web-based intervention (WBI) called Partners Connect individualized for a military spouse or partner concerned about their service member/veteran’s (SMV) drinking and conducted a secondary data analysis to examine the effect of the WBI on participant drinking and their perceptions of their SMV partner’s drinking. Participants were concerned partners (CPs) recruited through social media and randomized to Partners Connect or waitlist control. They completed online surveys at baseline and 3 months postintervention. CPs who reported any past-month drinking were included in the current analyses, n = 161; 94.4% female, 77% White, 5% Hispanic, 32.0 (SD = 6.5) years old. There was no significant effect of the intervention on CP drinking. However, the intervention effect was moderated by CP drinks per week, such that heavier drinking intervention CPs reported significant reductions in their number of drinking days at follow-up. Heavy drinking CPs who reduced their drinking also reported perceived reductions in SMV drinking. Military spouses and partners participated in Partners Connect out of concern for their SMV partner’s drinking. In doing so, heavier drinking CPs reduced their own drinking frequency, which was also associated with perceptions of SMV drinking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

American Psychological Association

Article
REACH Publication

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, KCO
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, LMR
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, CN
Keck School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Southern California, ERP