Skip to main content
← All trials
Suicide PreventionBehavioralBehavioral

What this study is

This trial tests the effectiveness of the Wingman-Connect Program delivered by USAF personnel on individual suicide risk. Randomization will be among classes at Initial Technical Training, in which 396 classes of USAF personnel will be randomized to Wingman-Connect or to an active control training (N=2,970 Airmen) and followed for one year. These classes send a proportion of graduates to Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) \& Air Mobility Command (AMC) operational bases.

What's being tested

  • Wingman-Connect

    Intervention · BEHAVIORAL

    Training occurs in three 2-hr blocks over several days in class groups. Targeted Skills focus on protective factors (Four Cores) supportive of mental health, theoretically linked to reduced suicide risk, and essential to an Airmen's job success: (1) Healthy relationships and accountability spanning USAF and family/intimate relationships (Kinship); (2) Meaning and value in work and life (Purpose), (3) Informal and formal help-seeking (Guidance); and (4) Activities that give strength and balance emotions (Balance). Activities progress from individual to group skill-building activities. Kinship modules at operational base (FTAC) expand focus on growing and sustaining relationships with intimate partners, friends, and family; and Guidance more on senior mentors at work. To extend training impact, facilitators implement activities once per quarter that bring concepts into base activities. Six months of text messages (1-2 per week) to reinforce and extend program concepts and skills.

  • Stress Management

    Intervention · BEHAVIORAL

    Stress management training (also done in class groups) reviews the basics of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress-response system; common experiences of stress (physiological, cognitive, emotional); the impact of chronic stress on the brain and other domains of health; how exercise reduces harmful effects of stress; and relaxation techniques that have been shown to reduce stress and adverse effects of stress on health. Additional modules review the physiological stress response and effects of stress on health; introduces how cognition influences stress responses; common cognitive distortions/attributions are reviewed that affect stress including strategies to strengthen protective cognitive responses. Six months of text messages (1-2 per week) to reinforce and extend program concepts and skills.

Study details

Sponsor
University of Rochester
Conditions
Suicide Prevention · Suicide
Enrolling
2,970 people
Starts
2025-01-27
Est. completion
2028-08-31
Design
Open-label, randomized, parallel groups
Record
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗