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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT06948877

"Up-Armoring" At-Risk Military Couples: A Stepped Approach to Early Intervention and Strengthening of Military Families

The study tested whether giving young, partnered military service members access to an online relationship help website would help prevent future relationship problems compared to partnered service member who did not have access to the website

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Key information

Conditions

Couples Therapy Military Family

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Keesler Air Force Base

Biloxi, Mississippi, 39540, United States

About this study

This study tested whether access to a self-directed, online couple intervention offered preventively lessened the occurrence of future negative relationship outcomes (i.e., relationship dysfunction, infidelity, intimate partner violence (IPV) for partnered service members in comparison to the usual resources for relationship assistance in the military. Participants were active-duty military in a committed romantic relationship of at least 6-months duration (N = 581; 37.2% married) who had recently completed basic military training and were transitioning into technical training to learn a specific job skill set. Participants were randomly assigned by in-processing week to the intervention or the control condition. The intervention effect was modeled using both Intent to Treat (ITT) and Complier Average Causal Effect (CACE) approaches.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

  • To be included in the study, participants had to be: (a) in a committed romantic relationship for at least six months and (b) on active duty (not Guard or Reserve).

Exclusion criteria

  • Participants with prior military service (i.e., not new to the military who were retraining into a different career field) were excluded.

Treatment and study plan

ARMOR Online

Behavioral

The online version of ARMOR comprised three core components. The first was an MI-based relationship "check-up" with a brief relationship assessment. In the second component, SMs chose relationship improvement domains from a list of 10 topic areas or modules and watched a short (5-7 minute) video on their chosen area providing (a) evidence-based or evidence-informed psychoeducation, (b) modeling of skills, and (c) practice of the skills. For the third component, SMs were asked MI's "key question" (i.e., "What's the next step?" Miller & Rollnick, 2023) and, if desired, completed a planning module where they were given the opportunity to create a personalized action plan (specifying how they might test any planned changes to see if they had the desired impact).

Primary outcomes

  1. Marital Satisfaction Inventory-Brief (MSI-B; Whisman et al., 2009)

    Time frame: six months

    The MSI-B is a true-false, self-report measure of relationship distress derived from the full The MSI-B is a true-false, self-report measure of relationship distress derived from the full True-false, self-report measure of relationship distress

  2. Family Maltreatment measure (Heyman et al., 2021)

    Time frame: six months

    Whether the participant or partner had engaged in intimate partner violence

  3. Infidelity

    Time frame: six months

    Whether the participant or partner had been intimate with non-partner

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Wright State University

Other

Collaborators

  • Binghamton University
  • Family Translational Research Group
  • Texas A&M University

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2021
Primary completion
2024
Study completion
2024
First posted
Apr 29, 2025
Registry last updated
Apr 29, 2025

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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