Motivating Treatment Seeking and Behavior Change by Untreated Military Personnel Abusing Alcohol or Drugs
Abstract
This study will develop and test a brief telephone-delivered motivational enhancement intervention (MET) for substance abusing military personnel who are not currently in substance abuse treatment. The intervention is designed to prompt the following: (1) a willingness to participate voluntarily in a self-appraisal of substance abuse behavior and consequences, (2) self-initiated change or enrollment in a treatment or self-help program, and (3) cessation of abuse of alcohol or other drugs. Following focus groups with 30 participants, this study will recruit 240 military personnel who have a current substance use disorder via local publicity. The recruitment period will extend over a period of 36 months. Following screening and a baseline assessment, enrolled participants will be randomly assigned to one of two study conditions, each consisting of one 30-60 minute session by phone: (1) the experimental MET condition, or (2) a brief educational session. The MET session will involve a counselor using motivational interviewing strategies to establish an empathic relationship, to support the caller in candidly exploring the problems he/she has experienced with alcohol/drugs, and weigh the pros and cons of future options. The educational session will be didactic and provide information on alcohol and drugs. Participants in both conditions will be reassessed at 3 and 6 months following exposure to the intervention. Participation in the trial will be over the duration of 7 months for each participant. Year 1 focused on pre-trial activities, including the development of the experimental and control substance abuse interventions, corresponding counselor manuals, research protocols, recruitment advertisements, and recruitment plan. Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals from the University of Washington and U.S. Army Human Research Protection Office (HRPO) for both phase 1 (pre-trial) and phase 2 (randomized controlled trial) research activities were obtained.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA552438
Entities
People
- Denise D. Walker
Organizations
- University of Washington