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NCT Number: NCT05619185

A SMART Evaluation of an Adaptive Web-based AUD Treatment for Service Members and Their Partners

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of an adaptive web intervention (Partners Connect) on military spouse drinking behaviors (CPs) and service member help-seeking (SMs). The investigators want to identify for whom this intervention is most efficacious and on what drinking behaviors and mechanisms. The investigators hypothesize that the intervention will reduce concerned partner drinking and increase service member help-seeking, compared to website resources, and that phone-based CRAFT will increase help-seeking behaviors, compared to those who are guided via a CRAFT workbook.

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Key information

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Stanford University

Palo Alto, California, 94305, United States

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

Karen Osilla, PhD

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Kat Nameth, BS

CONTACT

[email protected]

6505429699

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • at least 18 years of age;
  • be living together with their partner, with no plans to change that status in the next 2 months;
  • not be in the military themselves (to reduce concerns about mandated reporting of alcohol use);
  • score ≥4 on the AUDIT-C for females or ≥5 for males/other;
  • respond yes to "Do you feel safe in your current relationship?" from the Partner Violence Screen;
  • report not currently being in mental health or alcohol treatment (CP and SM)
  • understand English fluently,
  • be willing to try an online program to address risky drinking.

We require cohabitating CPs and SMs with no anticipated changes in the next two months to ensure close contact and opportunity to practice new skills, and those who would feel safe participating.

Exclusion criteria

  • CPs in substance use treatment or their SM was in treatment in the last three months;
  • does not feel safe in the current relationship;
  • does not understand English fluently;
  • has an impaired capacity (cognitive, visual, or hearing);
  • is not cohabitating with their SM

Treatment and study plan

CRAFT Web-Based Intervention

Behavioral

Session 1 addresses CPs' mental health issues and drinking. CPs select reasons why they are seeking help and steps they will take towards those goals. Session 2 is focused on improving their relationship through communication exercises. Session 3 is focused on functional analysis of their partner's drinking, and how to positively reinforce their partner's sobriety and negatively reinforce their drinking. Finally, Session 4 focuses on continuing self-care and talking with their partner about their concerns while interacting with them in healthy ways. The WBI contains audio, video, text, and exercises that utilize digital storytelling and vignettes to convey teaching points - a method utilized by the military to address stigma and increase treatment utilization. Actresses portrayed different experiences that the CP may be going through and modeled skills. CPs clicked on the vignette that they most connected with and followed that character across all the sessions.

Other names: WBI, Partners Connect, Web-based intervention (WBI)

Phone-Based CRAFT

Behavioral

The phone-based CRAFT intervention consists of six individual sessions with a CRAFT clinician that will explore what they learned from the WBI and additional skills they need. Session content includes positive reinforcement of non-drinking SM behaviors, refraining from interfering in SM's consequences of alcohol use, communication skills, and self-care.

Other names: Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) phone sessions

CRAFT Workbook

Behavioral

The self-directed CRAFT workbook Table 1.Partners Connect WBI has a parent and partner version that uses CRAFT to help the CP help with understanding, self-care, communication, and actions (e.g., how to react when a partner has been using substances and when they have not been using substances, how to talk to partner so that they are more likely to be heard) and includes more information about communicating than the WBI and several interactive worksheets.

Other names: Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) workbook

Gottman Self-Guided Resources

Behavioral

To match time spent reviewing the website, CPs will receive an orientation guide that includes the website URL and a 4-week guide for how they can navigate this website for 20-30 minutes per week (e.g., read article "'It's Not My Fault!': Why Defensiveness is Damaging" and write down one tool to dissolve defensiveness you're willing to try). We will send reminder emails each week to visit the website and include questions in the emails and our first online follow-up survey asking CPs approximately how many times they visited the website and how long they spent viewing content on the website. Reminder emails will be programmed such that CPs get directed automatically to the website if the CP notes no time spent on it.

Primary outcomes

  1. Concerned Partner Drinking Days

    Time frame: Baseline to 6 month follow-up

    The CP primary outcome is drinking defined as number of drinking days in the past month

  2. Concerned Partner Drinks per Episode

    Time frame: Baseline to 6 month follow-up

    The CP primary outcome is drinking defined as number of drinks per episode in the past month

  3. Service Member help-seeking

    Time frame: Baseline to 6 month

    Completion of the personalized normalized feedback (PNF) component of the intervention as a signal of increase help-seeking behavior

Secondary outcomes

  1. mental health symptoms

    Time frame: Baseline to 6 month follow-up

    Anxiety as measured by the global score on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7)

  2. mental health symptoms

    Time frame: Baseline to 6 month follow-up

    Depression as measured by the global score on the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9)

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Kat Nameth, BS

CONTACT

[email protected]

6505429699

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Stanford University

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
  • Northern California Institute of Research and Education
  • RAND
  • University of Southern California

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Nov 16, 2022
Registry last updated
Apr 27, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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