JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Despite an increased risk of psychological difficulties, there remains a lack of evidence-based support for the mental health needs of military partners.

Objective:

To investigate whether The Together Webinar Programme (TTP-Webinar), a six-week structured, remote-access, group intervention would reduce military partners’ experience of common mental health difficulties and secondary trauma symptoms.

Methods:

A pilot randomised controlled trial was used to compare the TTP-Webinar intervention to a waitlist control. The sample was UK treatment-seeking veterans engaged with a mental health charity. 196 military partners (1 male, 195 females; Mage = 42.28, SDage = 10.82) were randomly allocated to the intervention (n = 97) or waitlist (n = 99) condition. Outcome measures were self-reported measures of common mental health difficulties and secondary trauma symptoms, as well as overall quality of life rating.

Results:

Compared to the waitlist, military partners in the TTP-Webinar had reduced common mental health difficulties, p = .015, and secondary trauma symptoms, p = .001. However, there was no difference in terms of quality of life ratings, p = .062.

Conclusions:

The results suggest that TTP-Webinar is an effective intervention to support the mental health difficulties of military partners. The study provides promising evidence that webinars may be an appropriate platform to provide group-based support.