Mental Flexibility

NCT04135001 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: WRAIR #2686
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 500
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The main purpose of this research is evaluate if HBMT reduces HAB in Soldiers, reduces intra-team conflict, improves trust, and improves unit cohesion. A secondary purpose of this research is to test Soldier acceptability and perception of the training. Volunteers will be randomized to a training or placebo version of a computer task designed to reduce HAB and interpersonal conflict. Soldiers will then complete surveys at multiple time intervals before, during, and following deployment. If successful, this research would demonstrate the ability of a computer based training to improve unit cohesion and Soldier attitudes during pre-deployment training and deployment itself.

Conditions

Anger; Hostility

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• attitudes about mission

  Attitudes toward Mission. Nine items based on past WRAIR research that assess Soldiers attitudes about their mission.

  throughout study to completion, up to 1 year

• Workplace interpersonal conflict scale

  Workplace Interpersonal Conflict Scale. Adapted from Wright et al., 2017

  throughout study to completion, up to 1 year

• unit cohesion measure

  Three item measure used in past WRAIR research. Based on Podsakoff and MacKenzie (1994)

  throughout study to completion, up to 1 year

Study Arms (2)

HBM Training

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: HBM Training

Placebo Training

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Other: Placebo Training

Interventions

HBM Training BEHAVIORAL

A computer-based training to reduce hostile bias and interpersonal conflict as a mechanism to improve trust and cohesion within an operational military unit across the deployment cycle. The computer training is based on the Go/No-Go task (Fillmore et al., 2006) and Lexical Decision Task (Lepore \& Brown, 2002). The training reduces HAB by affecting two cognitive mechanisms: prime seeking non-hostile concepts when presented with ambiguous cues and conditioning inhibition in response to hostile cues. Thus, the training induces a non-hostile attribution bias while simultaneously training the inhibition of hostile attribution bias and aggressive behavior in response to ambiguous cues.

HBM Training

Placebo Training OTHER

Volunteers in the placebo condition will be told to complete the fragments with the first word that comes to mind. This placebo still exposes volunteers to the training stimuli and computer task, but does not train inhibition or selectively prime non-hostility, which are the hypothesized mechanisms of the training.

Placebo Training

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Soldiers assigned to the 1-128 IN BN / Wisconsin Army National Guard.

You may not qualify if:

• Soldiers not assigned to the 1-128 IN BN / Wisconsin Army National Guard.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR): lead

Study Sites (1)

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910, United States

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: SEQUENTIAL
• Sponsor Type: FED
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Assignment to each condition (active vs. placebo) will be done by block assignment (by company) using the two versions of the HBMT program start code by study staff running participants

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 25, 2019
• First Posted: October 22, 2019
• Study Start: August 6, 2019
• Primary Completion: August 6, 2023
• Study Completion: August 6, 2024
• Last Updated: April 8, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)