A Mixed Methods Pilot Trial of the STEP Home Workshop to Improve Reintegration and Reduce Suicide Risk for Recently Transitioned Veterans

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Behavioral
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

Risk of Veteran suicide is elevated during the first year of transition from military service to civilian life. Most Veteran suicides occur among Veterans who are not connected to VA healthcare. Suicide prevention and connection to care are therefore critical for recently transitioning Veterans. Transitioning Veterans require services to provide them with suicide prevention education, skills to manage their transition effectively, and support in their access to VA healthcare. Convenient, accessible, palatable, patient-centered care options that are cost-effective, easy to implement nationwide, and target domains known to mitigate suicide risk are needed during this critical transition period. This proposal would bridge this important healthcare gap using STEP-Home-SP, a transdiagnostic, non-stigmatizing, skills-based workshop. STEP-Home-SP will provide Veterans with suicide prevention education, skills to improve transition, support to access VA care, and a platform to decrease social isolation early in their military to civilian transition, thereby reducing suicide risk downstream.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Maximum Age: 65
Healthy Volunteers: t
View:

• Recently transitioned Veterans within one year of separation from military service

• Self-reported functional impairment or reintegration difficulties as measured by the Military-to-Civilian Questionnaire (any item score \> 1 indicating some difficulty; M2CQ; \[71\])

• Sufficient English fluency

• Agree to participate (informed consent/HIPAA)

Locations
United States
Massachusetts
VA Boston Healthcare System Jamaica Plain Campus, Jamaica Plain, MA
RECRUITING
Boston
Contact Information
Primary
Catherine B Fortier, PhD
catherine.fortier@va.gov
(857) 364-4361
Time Frame
Start Date: 2024-03-01
Estimated Completion Date: 2027-05-31
Participants
Target number of participants: 120
Treatments
Experimental: STEP-Home-SP + Usual Care
The core skills of emotional regulation and problem solving are introduced and integrated throughout all Veteran-specific reintegration content modules for practice and repetition for 12 weeks. Attention training augments emotional regulation and problem solving core skills and is interspersed throughout group and individual sessions. Additional 30-minute individual skill building and goal setting sessions occur \~4-6 times based on individual Veteran needs
Active_comparator: Usual Care
UC will include the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) as scheduled by DOD prior to military separation, VA Solid Start post-separation, and educational augmentation post-separation.
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Leads: VA Office of Research and Development

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov