Clinical trial NCT04261842: Military Identity Project
Official title: Identifying the Core Content of Military Identity for Psychological Understanding
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Military Identity
Self-schemas
Psychological Well-being
Keywords: Military Identity
Military psychological health
Active Duty
Well-being
Readiness
Self and Identity
Self-Schemas
Lead sponsor: David Grant U.S. Air Force Medical Center
Sponsor class: FED
Collaborators: name: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
name: University of Rochester
name: San Antonio Military Medical Center
name: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
name: Womack Army Medical Center
name: Tripler Army Medical Center
First posted: 2020-02-10
Enrollment: 115
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: CASE_ONLY
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Population of interest includes a stratified self-selected sample of ADSM participants (25% USA, 25% USAF, 25% USMC, 25% USN). Recruitment will be primarily through online forums with facilitation championed from five recruitment hubs at: 1) David Grant Medical Center (USAF) serving over 10K ADSM, 2) 59th Medical Wing, (USAF) serving over 60K ADSM, 3) Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, (USN) serving over 3.5K ADSM, 4) Womack Army Medical Center (USA) serving 50K ADSM. and 5) Marine Corps Base Hawaii (USMC), home to the majority of the 5,300 Marines stationed on Oahu. The study is site agnostic as it will be conducted in a virtual environment hosted by Harvard's Project Implicit virtual laboratory, therefore any ADSM who meets the inclusion criteria is eligible to participate.

Brief summary: The Military Identity Project is an exploration of military identity in Active Duty Service Members of the Army, Navy, Air Force \& Marine Corps. The purpose of this project is to discover common identity attributes shared by active duty members across Service branches and to see if specific traits are related to levels of well-being and resilience.

Detailed description: Rationale: Psychological health (PH) disorders continue to be the highest consumer of inpatient bed days and are in the top 10 diagnoses for Active Duty Service Members (ADSM) lost duty days and appointment utilization. Cognitive therapies (CT) are the evidence-based choice for PH conditions. Little is known about the cognitive contents of Military Identity (MI) and the potential for identifying specific cognitive vulnerabilities and resources common in ADSMs. Understanding the role of MI in common military PH conditions can inform the development of new military-specific clinical strategies for CTs.

Study Objective: To validate findings from a pilot Military Identity (MI) study utilizing a self-schema model to determine core cognitive contents of MI and to explore relationships between MI and psychological well-being (PWB).

Specific Aims:

Aim 1: Describe the core cognitive content of MI in active duty service members.

Aim 2: Examine the effect of MI on information processing response times.

Aim 3: Explore the relationship between MI and self-perceived psychological well-being scores.

Design: A descriptive cross-sectional mixed methods content analysis and a four-group information processing paradigm will be utilized to investigate a stratified sample of ADSMs across Joint Services (25% sample from each Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine).

Methods: Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Identity Attribute Tasks will be used to explore MI content as well as a 60 attribute response time task along with a demographic questionnaire, Inclusion of In-group in Self Scale, and Ryff's PWB Scales. All measures will be collected via computerized software program developed by Harvard's Project Implicit.

Dissemination of Results: Results from the study will be disseminated through publications, poster and/or podium presentations at professional annual conferences such as the American Psychological Association (APA), Military Health Systems Research Symposium, Association of Military Surgeons United States (AMSUS), and Tri-Service Nursing Research Program (TSNRP). Manuscripts will be submitted for publication to appropriate journals such as Military Psychology, Military Behavioral Health, and Military Medicine.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* An active duty member of the US Army, US Air Force, US Marine Corps, US Navy
* Willing to complete the online identity tasks requiring approximately 45 minutes

Exclusion Criteria:

* Civilian
* Guard or Reserve Service Members
* U.S. Public Health Service Member
* U.S. Coast Guard Service Member

Primary outcomes:
measure: Open-ended Identity Attribute Task (Task 1)
timeFrame: 15 minutes
measure: Identity Attribute Response Time Task (Task 2)
timeFrame: 3 minutes
measure: Demographic Questions (Task 3)
timeFrame: 2 minutes
measure: Inclusion of In-group in the Self Scale (Task 4)
timeFrame: 1-2 minutes
measure: Closed-ended Identity Attribute Task (Task 5)
timeFrame: 10 minutes
measure: Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-being (Task 6)
timeFrame: 10 minutes
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Travis Air Force Base
country: United States
facility: David Grant USAF Medical Center
state: California
Study officials:
affiliation: David Grant USAF Medical Center
name: Laurie A Migliore, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
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