Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Code:

NCT05094115

Conditions

Resilience, Psychological

Stress, Physiological

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Psychological Flexibility Training (PFT)

Study Details

Brief summary:

Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs) are specialized United States Army units formed to train, advise, assist, enable and accompany operations with allied and partner nations. Security Force Assistance Brigades are composed of roughly 800 senior military personnel, primarily commissioned and non-commissioned officers selected from regular Army units across a wide range of military specialties. Because of the high operational tempo (OPTEMPO) of these units, individual resiliency is of utmost importance in maintaining readiness to successfully execute critical, high-stress missions. Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) is an evidence-based intervention with strong potential to enhance resiliency by bolstering psychological flexibility along with other factors which have been demonstrated to optimize individual and group performance. This project will compare an Acceptance and Commitment Training-based resiliency-enhancement training program as compared to training as usual in 600 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigades soldiers stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Assessment measures related to resilience will be administered before and after training as well as before and after deployment. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, and every 4 months thereafter for a total of 16-months.

Conditions

Resilience, Psychological

Stress, Physiological

Study ID

NCT05094115

Start date

Oct 4, 2021

Status verified date

Nov, 2025

Completion date

Sep, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult 18 or older
  • Male or female soldiers assigned to the 3rd SFAB

Exclusion Criteria:

  • None

Study Design

Enrollment

600 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Supportive Care

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

no intervention: Training as usual

Training as Usual for the 3rd SFAB is the U.S. Army Master Resilience Trainer (MRT). It focuses on teaching resilience skills and is one of the foundational pillars of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program. MRT course is intended to impart training resilience skills, designed to introduce other resilience concepts that soldiers will likely encounter through their careers. Key focus of course are (1) resilience, (2) building mental toughness, (3) identifying character strengths, and (5) strengthening relationships. The 3rd SFAB uses a a team training grounded in strengths-based leadership. The Small Team Development Consultant and Brigade Behavioral Health Provider serves as a consultant to units conducting their own resiliency training as usual. No booster sessions will be offered to Training as Usual.

active comparator: Training as usual with psychological flexibility training

Training as usual, with psychological flexibility training delivered during a 2-day workshop.

Day 1 provides an overview of the training and describes the posture or stance to prepare for response to challenging situations in a psychologically flexible manner.

Day 2 provides common coping strategies.

Interventions

Psychological Flexibility Training (PFT)

A 2-day workshop lasting approximately 8 hours per day. Day 1: an overview of the training and to describe the posture or stance that prepares one to respond to challenging situations in a psychologically flexible manner.

Day 2: identifies common coping strategies that typically fail or even "backfire" over the long term and to practice skills that promote psychological flexibility. Experiential exercises will be integrated throughout the training.

Following the PFT, 4 optional, monthly, one-hour booster sessions to supply refresher information.

  • An experiential exercise to highlight one or more process/concept that was introduced during the 2-day training.
  • Questions from the attendees about applying the concepts in their lives.
  • Comments and questions from the booster session facilitators to encourage application of the concepts.

Primary outcome measure

  • Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) [ Time Frame: Baseline to 16 months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Alan Peterson, PhD

210-562-6700petersona3@uthscsa.edu

Stacey Young-McCaughan

210-562-6722youngs1@uthscsa.edu

Locations

Fort Hood

Recruiting

Killeen, Texas, United States, 76544

Contacts

Abby Blankenship, PhD

254-288-1638blankenshipa@uthscsa.edu

Stacey Young-McCaughan, PhD

210-562-6722youngs1@uthscsa.edu

More Information

Sponsor

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Last update posted

Nov 12, 2025

Last verified

Nov, 2025

Keywords

  • Psychological flexibility

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-09. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio on 2025-11-12.