Career Enhancement Training Study Delivered Across Career Phases
1 other identifier
interventional
2,970
1 country
1
Brief Summary
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.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P75+ for not_applicable
Started Jan 2025
Longer than P75 for not_applicable
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
July 21, 2023
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
August 1, 2023
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
January 27, 2025
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
February 28, 2028
ExpectedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
August 31, 2028
March 20, 2026
March 1, 2026
3.1 years
July 21, 2023
March 18, 2026
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
At-risk cut-off of computerized adaptive testing for suicide severity
Participants will complete a computerized adaptive test for suicide severity. Participants will answer questions about their mental health. Participant scores will range from 0-100 with 100 indicating higher likelihood of current suicidal ideation and higher risk for suicide attempt. Scores above the published cut-off score greater than 34.
1 year
Secondary Outcomes (2)
Mean computerized adaptive testing for depression
1 year
Mean Behavioral Occupational Performance Outcomes
1 year
Study Arms (2)
Wingman Connect
EXPERIMENTALWingman-Connect (Wyman et al., 2020 \& 2022) uses a network health theoretical framework to strengthen two suicide-protective functions of social networks: 1) Strengthening positive social bonds, and 2) Building healthy norms that incentivize adaptive coping.
Active Control
ACTIVE COMPARATORActive control is stress management training of cognitive and behavioral strategies.
Interventions
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 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.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- Airmen-in-Training (AiT) recruited from technical training classes that train Airmen in jobs that support the mission and aircraft of AFGSC \& AMC MajComs.
- Eligible classes must be between 37-91 class days in length
You may not qualify if:
- Airmen from other countries receiving training in US
- Airmen who are not in their first year of enlistment
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
Study Sites (1)
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York, 14642, United States
Related Publications (2)
Wyman PA, Pickering TA, Pisani AR, Cero I, Yates B, Schmeelk-Cone K, Hendricks Brown C, Gibbons RD, Simonson J, Pflanz SE. Wingman-Connect Program increases social integration for Air Force personnel at elevated suicide risk: Social network analysis of a cluster RCT. Soc Sci Med. 2022 Mar;296:114737. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114737. Epub 2022 Jan 22.
PMID: 35131614BACKGROUNDWyman PA, Pisani AR, Brown CH, Yates B, Morgan-DeVelder L, Schmeelk-Cone K, Gibbons RD, Caine ED, Petrova M, Neal-Walden T, Linkh DJ, Matteson A, Simonson J, Pflanz SE. Effect of the Wingman-Connect Upstream Suicide Prevention Program for Air Force Personnel in Training: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Oct 1;3(10):e2022532. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.22532.
PMID: 33084901BACKGROUND
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- NONE
- Purpose
- PREVENTION
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Professor
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
July 21, 2023
First Posted
August 1, 2023
Study Start
January 27, 2025
Primary Completion (Estimated)
February 28, 2028
Study Completion (Estimated)
August 31, 2028
Last Updated
March 20, 2026
Record last verified: 2026-03
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will share
- Shared Documents
- STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF
- Time Frame
- All data will be deposited to NDA starting 12 months after the award begins and will be deposited every six months thereafter following the usual NDA data submission dates.
- Access Criteria
- To request access of the data, researchers will use the standard processes at NDA, and the NDA Data Access Committee will decide which requests to grant. The standard NDA data access process allows access for one year and is renewable.
The final dataset that we will share will include self-reported demographic and behavioral data from assessments with subjects. All data will be de-identified prior to receipt by the repository, but the information needed to generate a global unique identifier for the NIMH Data Archive (NDA) will be collected for each subject. Any coding used to manipulate data (create categories, scales) will be done in either SPSS or R and this code will also be provided via NDA or github.