What this study is
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.
What's being tested
- Get Better Together (GBT)
Intervention · 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
- Official title
- Better Together: A Relationship Enrichment Program Targeting Transdiagnostic Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Among Military Couples
- Sponsor
- Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
- Conditions
- Emotion Regulation · Relationship Conflict · Suicide Risk · Alcohol Use · Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) · Relationship Distress · Interpersonal Emotion Regulation
- Enrolling
- 1,000 people
- Starts
- 2025-09-22
- Est. completion
- 2028-07
- Design
- Open-label, randomized, parallel groups
- Record
- View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
Who can join
Age 18 Years and overSex ALLHealthy volunteers AcceptedYou may qualify if
- Couple is in a committed romantic relationship of at least six months
- At least one partner is a military Service member on active duty
- Both partners are age 18 or older
- Couple has not previously attended a relationship enrichment retreat or workshop together (e.g., CREDO, Strong Bonds, BSRT). This does not include couples therapy or pre-marital counseling.
You can't join if
- One or both partners decline to provide informed consent
- Required command endorsement for retreat attendance is not received (for Service members E-6 and below)
- Couple is unable or unwilling to attend any of the scheduled retreats during the study period
Sign in and we'll check these against your records.Full criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Study locations (1)
1 openUniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Bethesda, Maryland, United States
- Sarah Carter, Ph.D · Contact301-400-5675GetBetterTogether@usuhs.edu
Recruiting
Study team
Sponsor
Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
Study ID USUHS.2022-100
Principal investigator
Sarah Carter, Ph.D.
Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
Frequently asked questions
The sponsor hasn't published answers to common questions for this trial.