Lessons Learned from Conducting Clinical Research within Military Settings

Obtaining funding is only half the battle when developing successful clinical intervention research. An essential next step is for researchers to embark on the challenging yet exciting work of collaborating with systems and clients to bring the research program or study to life. This is particularly salient in intervention research, where often health care organizations influence patient recruitment, retention, and provide treatment as usual comparison conditions, as well as practitioners’ participation. The military health care system presents a unique set of challenges and strengths when implementing clinical research trials. Understanding the complexity of service systems within military sites is critical to the social work research agenda of developing effective and evidence-based interventions with military members and their families.

This roundtable discussion will share lessons learned from implementing clinical research programs with military personnel and their families within the largest center for clinical intervention trials in the Department of Defense (DoD) over the past seven years. You will hear from scholars that serve in leadership roles as Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators, Research Therapists, Risk Advisors, and Site Directors who are affiliated with The South Texas Research Organizational Network Guiding Studies on Trauma and Resilience (STRONG STAR) Research Consortium, and the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD (CAP) at the Fort Hood military installation in Killeen, Texas. The STRONG STAR Consortium involves some of the nation’s leading experts conducting multiple clinical trials to determine the most effective treatments for PTSD, sleep disorders, suicidality, and related conditions in active duty military personnel and their families.

This session focuses on how to successfully implement clinical trials. Presenters will discuss strategies in developing capacity, specifically building relationships with military site stakeholders, standing up research clinics that add value to the greater military health system, and effective supervision and training models within the research site. Procedures for operationalizing risk assessment and management for large clinical trials that allow for the inclusion of moderate and high risk participants will be provided.  Hurdles in conducting military-based intervention research will be described, such as combating stigma and obtaining leaderships support for service members to spend time away from duty to seek treatment. Presenters will discuss innovative recruitment strategies as well as engagement strategies for retaining and accommodating military families’ unique needs.  This roundtable will include presentation of materials and discussion among the presenters and audience with ample time for questions. This session will include a dialogue about the role of social work research within the larger context of scholarship addressing military service members. This session is relevant for researchers and clinicians who are implementing new programs or clinical practices working with military service members and their families.