Citation

Liu L, Porter SA, Gebhardt H, Markman JD, Buchholz JR, Reger MA. Psychiatr. Serv. 2023; 74(12): 1307-1310.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, American Psychiatric Association)

DOI

10.1176/appi.ps.20220629

PMID

37096358

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense clinical practice guideline on the treatment of veterans at risk for suicide recommends considering caring contacts interventions after a psychiatric hospitalization for suicidal ideation or suicide attempt. This quality improvement project examined the implementation of the recommendation at a large VA health care system. The project enrolled 29% of hospitalized veterans (N=135 of 462). Enrollment barriers included lack of staff availability and veteran ineligibility due to homelessness or housing instability. Opportunities to improve the reach of the intervention in future quality improvement processes are discussed, especially because acceptability of the intervention was high among veterans.

Language: en

Keywords

*Veterans/psychology; Caring contacts; Humans; Inpatient treatment; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Self-destructive behavior; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide; Suicide, Attempted/psychology; United States; United States Department of Veterans Affairs; Veterans issues