Get Better Together: Relationship Education For Military Couples

Part of paid clinical trials in Bethesda, Maryland.

Sponsor
Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
Study ID
NCT07096271
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Alcohol Use
  • Emotion Regulation
  • Interpersonal Emotion Regulation
  • Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
  • Relationship Conflict
  • Relationship Distress
  • Suicide Risk

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Get Better Together (GBT) — BEHAVIORAL
    Get Better Together is a couple-based, primary prevention program designed to reduce risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors, problematic alcohol use, and intimate partner violence by addressing two transdiagnostic drivers: emotion dysregulation and relationship conflict. The intervention is an adaptation of the empirically supported Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP), modified in collaboration with military stakeholders to meet the unique cultural and contextual needs of military couples. The GBT curriculum includes approximately 10 hours of structured content presented using didactic instruction, video demonstrations, group discussions, and guided couple exercises. Skills focus on interpersonal emotion regulation (e.g., emotion identification, acceptance, reappraisal, and problem solving) and evidence-based communication strategies (e.g., structured communication strategies, conflict de-escalation).

Study Details

This study is testing a program called Get Better Together, a relationship education program designed to help military couples effectively navigate life stressors as a team. The goal is to find out if attending Get Better Together improves mental health and relationship skills, and reduces problems like alcohol misuse, aggression, and suicide risk. Couples who join the study will be randomly placed into one of two groups. One group will attend Get Better Together at a weekend retreat. The other group will continue their usual activities and later receive access to an online relationship education program. All participants will complete surveys before the retreat and again 2, 4, and 6 months later.

Key Dates

Start date
Sep 22, 2025
Status verified
Sep 2025
Primary completion
May 31, 2027
Completion
Jul 31, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment
1,000 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION

Arms

  • Experimental: Get Better Together (GBT)
    Participants assigned to this arm will attend an in-person weekend retreat where they receive approximately 10 hours of structured curriculum focused on equipping couples with evidence informed strategies to cope with stress as a team, improve emotion regulation, and reduce conflict. GBT includes modules on emotion awareness, acceptance, reappraisal, constructive problem solving, and communication. The format integrates didactic material, videos, group discussions, and couples' skill practice. All materials and delivery methods have been tailored for military populations based on extensive stakeholder input and field testing.
  • No Intervention: Control Group
    Couples in the control group will not receive any structured relationship enrichment programming (e.g., retreats or workshops) during the 6-month follow-up period. After the 6-month follow-up period, couples in the control group will be provided access to ePREP, a self-paced on line version of the PREP curriculum.

Primary Outcome Measure

Suicide Cognitions [ Time Frame: Baseline, 2-month, 4-month, and 6-month follow-up ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Uniformed Services University of the Health SciencesBethesdaMaryland20814
Sarah Carter, Ph.D
[email protected]
301-400-5675

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Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences· Bethesda, MD

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