Session: Effective Engagement of Military Service Members and Their Families in Prevention Research (Society for Prevention Research 25th Annual Meeting)

Successful prevention trials are predicated on the capacity of investigators to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of participants. Nonetheless, recruitment strategies are rarely studied or discussed in the empirical literature. This symposium provides information about effectively recruiting and retaining military service members and their families, an underserved and historically difficult population to engage, in prevention research and programming. This symposium brings together researchers from diverse institutions who have been investigating what works for engaging military-connected participants in prevention programs.

The first paper, “Recruiting Military Families for Prevention Trials: Future Directions Suggested by Earlier Civilian and Emerging Military Research,” examines results from prevention research projects with both civilian and military families as part of the Promoting Strong Military Families: PROSPER Partnerships. Preliminary results show that military sources were cited more frequently as the source of referral to the project for National Guard and Reserve families, whereas the United Service Organizations (USO) and community events were cited more frequently for Active Duty participants. The presenter will discuss the need to address specific issues and barriers associated with military family recruitment with explicit implications for reducing operational costs and improving efficiency.

The second paper, “Recruiting and Retaining Previously Deployed Military Families in Prevention Research: Insights from Two Randomized Controlled Trials,” presents findings from evaluations of an evidence-based parenting program tailored for military families who have experienced parental deployment, the After Deployment: Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) program. Results revealed significant differences between method of recruitment and consenting to participate in the study. The presentation will also discuss associations between child, parent, and family factors and retention in the program.

The third paper, “Universal Suicide Prevention for Air Force Trainees: Retention as an Indicator of Progress in Program Adaptation,” reports findings from a phase of adapting a universal suicide prevention program, Sources of Strength, for Air Force personnel in training. The addition of a module to increase class interaction was significantly associated with retention. These findings point to the value of engaging military partners in planning adaptation process and incorporating retention rates to evaluate adaptation progress.

At the conclusion of the presentations, the discussant will integrate the findings regarding engagement approaches and their effectiveness, and engage the audience in a discussion about effective engagement strategies. It is expected that the novel population under study and the applicability of research findings across multiple settings and with different populations will be of great interest to SPR annual meeting participants.