Evaluation of a Brief Marriage Intervention for Internal Behavioral Health Consultants in Military Primary Care

Study Summary

The psychological health of military members is a critical element of force health protection and readiness. Frequent deployments and high operations tempo at home strain the relationships and families of today's military more than ever before (e.g., Karney \& Crown, 2007). Since 2001 the likelihood of divorce in the Air Force increased with the number of days that Airmen were deployed (Karney \& Crown, 2007). Distressed relationships not only adversely affect members' adjustment and readiness (e.g., Hoge et al., 2006) but also are centrally implicated in suicides (i.e., relationship problems are the precipitating event in 51% of Air Force suicides, Kindt, 2009) and domestic violence (Pan, Neidig, \& O'Leary, 1994). Unfortunately, traditional sources of marriage counseling available to service members are largely underutilized. The MC brings a fresh perspective that helps normalize relationship help-seeking and in turn reach larger numbers of distressed couples early. The partnering of MC and integrated primary care appears to be an ideal combination of behavioral health innovations that has the potential to measurably enhance relationship health for the military services.

Primary Outcome

The ISQ (Cordova, Gee \& Warren, 2005) is a 28-item measure of the degree to which partners feel safe being vulnerable with each other across several different domains of the relationship (Emotional Safety, Sexual Safety, Safety Disagreeing, Safety Being Yourself, and Safety in Public). Sample items include: I feel comfortable telling my partner when I'm feeling sad, sex with my partner makes me feel uncomfortable, and when I am with my partner I feel safe and comfortable. Scores range from 0 (n

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Marriage Checkup