Collaborative Opportunities for Reducing Alcohol and Sexual Violence Together

NCT ID: NCT07261722

Last Updated: 2025-12-03

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 24 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-10-10
• Study Completion Date: 2026-04-30

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to test if a modified peer-based motivational intervention (the Military PAIRS; MPAIRS) is reasonable and practical for military contexts. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does it works to reduce SV?
• Does it works to reduce risky drinking? To test this, participants will answer questions about their SV history and risky drinking. Then they will be given MPAIRS. After 1 month, they will be asked about their SV history and risky drinking again.

Detailed Description

The objective of the proposed study is to adapt an innovative, peer-based motivational interview (PMI) that encourages and prepares peers to reduce sexual violence (SV) risk. Delivered to pairs of peers (dyads), the PMI will be designed to foster collaborative efforts to increase readiness for, and decrease barriers to helping behavior, and to teach and plan together for assault prevention skills. As the role of alcohol has been under-addressed in SV prevention efforts, the PMI also will explicitly attend to how intoxication may serve as a barrier to peer intervention, and strategies for overcoming this barrier. The completion of this project's aims will yield a novel intervention that capitalizes on the natural resource of military responsibility to decrease risk for sexual violence - a pervasive problem affecting a substantial portion of military service members in the U.S.

Twelve peer dyads will participate in the peer-based motivational interview (PMI). The study will compare the participants at baseline to themselves at a 1 month follow up on outcomes. The study will focus on whether effects are in the expected direction and whether the strength of effect sizes are of practical magnitude. It is expected that participants will demonstrate significant increases in readiness, and engagement in peer assault prevention behavioral skills (PAPBs), and demonstrate decreases in perceived barriers. Follow-up data will be utilized to provide a rich description of the role of alcohol in implementing PAPBs, and whether the PMI reduces the impact of alcohol use. In exploratory analyses, it will be examined whether the intervention may be associated with decreased assault risk, as well as decreased drinking.

Conditions

Sexual Violence; Behavior Change; Military Training

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Peer-Based Motivational Interview (PMI)

Will participate in the Peer-Based Motivational Interview (PMI) intervention

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Peer-Based Motivational Interview

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The intervention will use Motivational Interviewing's (MI) collaborative conversation style for strengthening commitment to change, to motivate and prepare service members to work together to reduce Sexual Violence (SV) risk. This intervention will target ways that the peer dyad may support, encourage, and share responsibility with one another in protecting against SV. The Peer-based MI (PMI) will then use the responsibility and relationship of peers as a framework to foster collaborative efforts to increase readiness and decrease barriers to helping behavior. As part of this, the PMI will focus on the identification and implementation of skills peers can use to help one another prevent SV. PMI will include a focused discussion of the ways drinking may impede helping efforts. Moreover, the PMI will encourage service members to identify personal, specific strategies for reducing the effects of alcohol on helping.

Interventions

Peer-Based Motivational Interview

The intervention will use Motivational Interviewing's (MI) collaborative conversation style for strengthening commitment to change, to motivate and prepare service members to work together to reduce Sexual Violence (SV) risk. This intervention will target ways that the peer dyad may support, encourage, and share responsibility with one another in protecting against SV. The Peer-based MI (PMI) will then use the responsibility and relationship of peers as a framework to foster collaborative efforts to increase readiness and decrease barriers to helping behavior. As part of this, the PMI will focus on the identification and implementation of skills peers can use to help one another prevent SV. PMI will include a focused discussion of the ways drinking may impede helping efforts. Moreover, the PMI will encourage service members to identify personal, specific strategies for reducing the effects of alcohol on helping.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Enlisted U.S. Navy service members on active duty status
• Meet criteria for risky drinking (i.e. score of 4+ for men, 2+ for women according to the AUDIT-C)
• Have an eligible peer and the pair must socialize together at least twice a month

Exclusion Criteria

• Individuals who endorse evidence of withdrawal (Item 6 on the AUDIT)

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 24 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

State University of New York at Buffalo

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Jennifer Read

SUNY Distinguished Professor and Chair of Department of Psychology

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Jennifer P Read, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University at Buffalo

Locations

University at Buffalo Department of Psychology

Buffalo, New York, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Jennifer P Read, Ph.D.

Role: CONTACT

jpread@buffalo.edu

7166450193

Facility Contacts

Jennifer P Read, Ph.D.

Role: primary

jpread@buffalo.edu

716-883-2574

Other Identifiers

TP210286

Identifier Type: OTHER_GRANT

Identifier Source: secondary_id

00006595

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id