Evaluating Cross-Cutting Prevention at the U.S. Air Force Academy

Evaluating Cross-Cutting Sexual Assault and Alcohol Misuse Prevention Programming at the U.S. Air Force Academy

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT06875284

Enrollment

2041

Registered

2025-03-13

Start date

2022-06-27

Completion date

2024-05-01

Last updated

2025-11-25

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Alcohol Misuse, Sexual Assault

Keywords

Sexual assault prevention, Alcohol misuse prevention, Sexual Communication and Consent, eCHECKUP TO GO

Brief summary

Sexual assault and alcohol misuse are interrelated, persist at high rates in military populations, and carry negative consequences for military units and personnel. Combining tailored efforts to prevent sexual assault and alcohol misuse is critical for developing a more effective Force. This study will test the cross-cutting immediate and long-term outcomes of two programs, the Sexual Communication and Consent (SCC) sexual assault prevention program and the eCHECKUP TO GO alcohol misuse prevention program, delivered separately and in combination, with Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. Anonymous Cadet self-report data will be collected before training (pre-test), immediately after training (post-test), 3 months after training (Fall semester follow-up), and 9 months after training (Spring semester follow-up).

Detailed description

Sexual assault and alcohol misuse both persist at high rates among military populations. These behaviors interfere with readiness, unit cohesion, mission objectives, and personnel performance and retention. There are demonstrated associations between sexual assault and alcohol misuse for both perpetrators and victims of sexual assault. Therefore, combining efforts to prevent sexual assault and alcohol misuse is critical for more effective and efficient programming. Moreover, tailored prevention programming that addresses individual risks and experiences related to sexual assault and alcohol misuse is likely to be the most effective programming. Unfortunately, to date, no evidence-based cross-cutting interventions have been developed and evaluated for impacts on both sexual assault and alcohol misuse among military populations. Several challenges impede this effort. Sexual assault prevention and alcohol misuse prevention are typically managed in different organizations within military settings, including within Military Service Academies. Training settings face many competing demands for trainees' time and instructor capacity, and instructors' ability to provide both sexual assault-related and alcohol-related training varies widely. Despite the promise of tailored training, individualized programming also presents feasibility challenges in group education settings common to military training. In alignment with the Fiscal Years 2021-2025 Department of Defense (DoD) Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) Research Agenda and DoD's desire to have cross-cutting prevention programs that reduce risk for multiple harmful behaviors, the long-term goal of the proposed work is to address these challenges and provide the military with flexible, engaging, tailored prevention programming that reduces sexual assault and alcohol misuse while minimizing burden on Service members and training settings. To that end, the basic objective of this study is to test the cross-cutting immediate and long-term outcomes of two programs, the Sexual Communication and Consent (SCC) sexual assault prevention program and the eCHECKUP TO GO alcohol misuse prevention program, delivered separately and in combination, with Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. Anonymous Cadet self-report data will be collected before training (pre-test), immediately after training (post-test), 3 months after training (Fall semester follow-up), and 9 months after training (Spring semester follow-up).

Interventions

BEHAVIORALSexual Communication and Consent (SCC)

SCC combines universal classroom instruction with tailored web-based content. Based on sociodemographic characteristics and prior sexual assault experiences, Cadets receive tailored content that addresses either primary victimization prevention, revictimization prevention, or healthy relationships and bystander intervention promotion.

BEHAVIORALAlcohol eCHECKUP TO GO (eCHECKUP TO GO)

eCHECKUP TO GO is a personalized, online intervention designed to reduce cognitive risk factors for alcohol misuse. eCHECKUP TO GO is brief, self-guided, and provides individualized feedback based on a user's self-reported alcohol use patterns and consequences.

BEHAVIORALTraining as usual (TAU)

TAU involves universal classroom instruction focused on developing knowledge, attitudes, and skills to promote personal resilience, increase potential for success, and develop healthy and rewarding personal relationships.

Study design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Intervention model description

Quasi-experimental trial

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

17 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* U.S. Air Force Academy Basic Cadet enrolled in 2022 or 2023 Basic Cadet Training

Exclusion criteria

* Unable or unwilling to provide informed consent

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Self-reported Sexual Assault Victimization	From pre-test to Spring semester follow-up, an average of 10 months	Participants self-report whether they experienced any type of unwanted sexual contact between Basic Cadet Training and the Spring semester follow-up using a modified version of the Sexual Experiences Survey.
Self-reported Sexual Assault Perpetration	From pre-test to Spring semester follow-up, an average of 10 months	Participants self-report whether they perpetrated any type of unwanted sexual contact between Basic Cadet Training and the Spring semester follow-up using a modified version of the Sexual Experiences Survey.
Self-reported Alcohol Use	From pre-test to Spring semester follow-up, an average of 10 months	Participants self-report the approximate number of alcoholic drinks they consumed each day of the week during a typical week over the past month (assessed at both the Fall and Spring semester follow-up assessments). Participants who respond with any weekly value greater than 0 alcoholic drinks at either the Fall or Spring semester follow-up are coded as positive for any alcohol use.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Knowledge of Sexual Assault	From pre-test to post-test, an average of 1 month	The percentage of correct participant responses to 8 true-or-false questions about sexual assault.
Knowledge of Effective Consent	From pre-test to post-test, an average of 1 month	The percentage of correct participant responses to 7 true-or-false questions about effective sexual consent.
Self-efficacy to Resist Unwanted Sexual Advances	From pre-test to post-test, an average of 1 month	A subset of participants rate their degree of confidence in their ability to use certain protective strategies in 6 specific high-risk situations. Scale scores range 6 to 42, with higher scores indicating greater self-efficacy.
Normative Perceptions of Peer Alcohol Use	From pre-test to post-test, an average of 1 month	Participants report how many days in the week they estimate the average Cadet of their same age and gender drinks and how many drinks the average Cadet of their same age and gender consumes per day using a modified version of the Quantity/Frequency/Peak questionnaire. The average number of estimated drinks consumed per drinking day is computed from this data and has a possible score range of 0 drinks to 6 drinks.
Readiness to Change Alcohol Use Behavior	From pre-test to post-test, an average of 1 month	Participants self-report their readiness to change their drinking behavior using a single item. The possible item score ranges 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating greater readiness to change.
Dating-related Protective Strategy Use	From pre-test to Spring semester follow-up, an average of 10 months	Participants self-report the degree to which they engaged in behavioral strategies to reduce sexual assault risk using the Dating Self-Protection Against Rape Scale. Scores range 0 to 70, with higher scores indicating greater engagement in dating-related protective behavioral strategies.
Alcohol-related Protective Strategy Use	From pre-test to Spring semester follow-up, an average of 10 months	Participants self-report the degree to which they engaged in behavioral strategies to reduce alcohol-related harms using an adapted version of the Protective Behavioral Strategies Survey. Scores range 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater engagement in alcohol-related protective strategies.

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Participants by arm

Arm	Count
Training as Usual (TAU) TAU without SCC or eCHECKUP TO GO	556
TAU Plus eCHECKUP TO GO TAU with eCHECKUP TO GO (without SCC)	401
Sexual Communication and Consent (SCC) Sexual Communication and Consent without TAU or eCHECKUP TO GO	632
SCC Plus eCHECKUP TO GO SCC with eCHECKUP TO GO (without TAU)	396
Total	1,985

Baseline characteristics

Characteristic	Training as Usual (TAU)	TAU Plus eCHECKUP TO GO	Sexual Communication and Consent (SCC)	SCC Plus eCHECKUP TO GO	Total
Age, Continuous	18.33 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.98	18.35 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.86	18.29 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.93	18.34 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.91	18.32 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.93
Race/Ethnicity, Customized Asian	45 Participants	38 Participants	54 Participants	37 Participants	174 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized Black or African American	30 Participants	14 Participants	32 Participants	16 Participants	92 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized Multiple races/ethnicities	63 Participants	38 Participants	61 Participants	32 Participants	194 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized Native American or Alaska Native	1 Participants	0 Participants	1 Participants	0 Participants	2 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized Other race/ethnicity	2 Participants	0 Participants	4 Participants	4 Participants	10 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian	1 Participants	1 Participants	6 Participants	0 Participants	8 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized Prefer not to answer or missing	5 Participants	9 Participants	14 Participants	6 Participants	34 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized Spanish/Hispanic/Latino/a	64 Participants	39 Participants	64 Participants	38 Participants	205 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized White	345 Participants	262 Participants	396 Participants	263 Participants	1266 Participants
Self-reported Alcohol Use	122 Participants	93 Participants	130 Participants	89 Participants	434 Participants
Self-reported Sexual Assault Perpetration	6 Participants	6 Participants	8 Participants	7 Participants	27 Participants
Self-reported Sexual Assault Victimization	88 Participants	63 Participants	92 Participants	69 Participants	312 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Female	156 Participants	118 Participants	173 Participants	107 Participants	554 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Male	400 Participants	283 Participants	459 Participants	289 Participants	1431 Participants

Adverse events

Event type	EG000 affected / at risk	EG001 affected / at risk	EG002 affected / at risk	EG003 affected / at risk
deaths Total, all-cause mortality	0 / 556	0 / 401	0 / 632	0 / 396
other Total, other adverse events	0 / 556	0 / 401	0 / 632	0 / 396
serious Total, serious adverse events	0 / 556	0 / 401	0 / 632	0 / 396

Outcome results

Primary

Self-reported Alcohol Use

Participants self-report the approximate number of alcoholic drinks they consumed each day of the week during a typical week over the past month (assessed at both the Fall and Spring semester follow-up assessments). Participants who respond with any weekly value greater than 0 alcoholic drinks at either the Fall or Spring semester follow-up are coded as positive for any alcohol use.