Mental Health Intervention for Teens Coping with Parental Military Deployment

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请是根据NIMH PAR-06-248“从干预发展到服务：探索性研究资助（R34）”提交的。军事人员总数超过350万，大约43%有子女。部署周期可能与儿童的抑郁、焦虑和行为问题以及军人配偶的心理困扰有关。此外，在部署和重返社会期间，家庭成员的健康可能影响军人的身心功能。虽然研究和联邦资金一直致力于为退伍军人开发治疗方法，但针对军人家庭儿童心理健康问题的干预方案尚未经过测试。与罗德岛州国民警卫队和预备役的家庭准备项目合作，本提案的目的是为在军事部署周期的部署和重新融入阶段经历抑郁、焦虑和/或行为问题的青少年制定一种认知行为治疗方案。该协议将通过修改美国国立卫生研究院资助的认知行为协议来创建，该协议用于治疗初步证明有效的青少年心理健康问题（PI， C. Esposito-Smythers）。本项目有三个主要目的：1)为经历与部署周期相关的心理健康问题的青少年制定人工干预方案；2)完善干预方案并在12个家庭进行试点；3)在随机试点试验中测试干预措施。为了实现这些目标，提出了两个步骤的治疗发展顺序。第一阶段包括最初的手册开发、焦点小组、治疗师培训和公开的试点试验。Ib阶段包括一项随机试点试验。72名青少年和他们的监护人将通过罗德岛家庭准备计划登记，并随机分配到实验性干预或非指导性支持治疗，以进行门诊治疗。实验干预包括

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is being submitted in response to NIMH PAR-06-248 entitled "From Intervention Development to Services: Exploratory Research Grants (R34)". The total number of military personnel is over 3.5 million and approximately 43% have children. The deployment cycle can be associated with depression, anxiety, and behavior problems in children as well as psychological distress in the military spouse. Further, the health of family members can affect the physical and psychological functioning of the military service member during the deployment and re-integration periods. While research and federal funding has been dedicated toward developing treatments for the returning service member, intervention protocols for mental health problems in the children of military families have not been tested. In collaboration with the Family Readiness Program of the Rhode Island National Guard & Reserves, the purpose of this proposal is to develop a cognitive behavioral treatment protocol for adolescents experiencing depression, anxiety, and/or behavior problems associated with the deployment and re-integration phases of the military deployment cycle. This protocol will be created by modifying an NIH funded cognitive behavioral protocol for the treatment of adolescent mental health problems with initial demonstrated efficacy (PI, C. Esposito-Smythers). There are three primary aims in this project: 1) develop the manualized intervention protocol for adolescents experiencing mental health problems associated with the deployment cycle; 2) refine and pilot the intervention protocol with 12 families; and 3) test the intervention in a randomized pilot trial. To accomplish these aims, a two step sequence of treatment development is proposed. Stage Ia includes initial manual development, focus groups, therapist training, and an open pilot trial. Stage Ib includes a randomized pilot trial. Seventy-two adolescents and their caretakers will be enrolled through the Rhode Island Family Readiness program and randomly assigned to the experimental intervention or non-directive supportive therapy for their outpatient care. The experimental intervention includes 12 adolescent group sessions which address depression, anxiety, and behavior problems associated with the deployment cycle and 12 parent group sessions that address stress management and parenting skills. The non-directive supportive therapy condition includes 12 adolescent and 12 parent group sessions which involve patient initiated discussions focused on issues surrounding military deployment and re-integration. Outcome will be assessed at post-treatment and 3 month follow-up. The long term objective of this research is to yield an effective outpatient intervention for teens of military service members experiencing mental health problems associated with the deployment and re-integration phases of the deployment cycle.