Pilot Project 4
Enhancing Reintegration for Post-9/11 Veterans and their Families using In-Person or Videoconferencing Delivery of the Operation Enduring Families Program
PIs: Karen S. Quigley, Ph.D. and Maureen O’Connor, Psy.D.
The Pew Research Center reported that at least 40% of all post-9/11 Veterans reported strains in family relationships after deployment, and at least 35% found the transition to civilian life difficult after deployment. Thus, many post-9/11 Veterans are likely to benefit from a brief psychoeducational family intervention that can enhance family and community reintegration. The VHA has an existing group-based, manualized curriculum, the Operation Enduring Families (OEF) Program which was designed to enhance family and community reintegration for post-9/11 veterans. However, the curriculum has not yet been widely disseminated, nor extensively tested. Limited dissemination could arise from the difficulty of delivering group-based trainings to busy, younger post-9/11 Veterans with families even though this group of Veterans may especially benefit from this program. The OEF Program, co-created by Co-Investigator Michelle Sherman, Ph.D. (Minneapolis VA) also may provide a low-barrier, non-stigmatizing introduction to the VHA for the nearly 50% of Veterans who do not use VA benefits for which they are eligible. This program could enhance community reintegration and functioning in part by identifying and providing referrals for addressing previously unrecognized healthcare needs. The primary aim of this pilot project is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of in- person vs. videoconferencing delivery of the OEF Program with Veterans and one of their adult family members. In addition, we will develop an additional module on sleep and good sleep habits for the OEF Program which we will first pre-test in a small open trial using in-person delivery with 10 Veterans. We will then conduct a larger, randomized controlled pilot study of the two delivery methods (in-person vs. videoconferencing) for the OEF program that will be compared to a Manual only control group that is simply given the OEF Program manual (N=20 in-person OEF program, N=20 videoconferencing OEF Program, N=20 Manual only control). Feasibility will be measured by rates of recruitment, randomization, retention, and adherence. We will assess acceptability using both surveys and a semi-structured qualitative interview. We will also conduct a preliminary assessment of several efficacy measures including changes in community reintegration and functioning, and explore whether utilization of VHA services changes from before to after delivery of the OEF program (for either delivery method).
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