At a glance
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Prevention of Suicide in Veterans Through Brief Intervention and Contact (VA-BIC)
In Brief
A clinical study evaluating PEACE and Standard Psychiatric Hospital Discharge Care for Suicide Prevention. Completed, enrolled 92 participants across 1 site.
Detailed Summary
The VA is committed to reducing suicide in the U.S. Veteran population. Over 6,000 Veterans die from suicide each year, and this risk is particularly high following a psychiatric hospitalization. This may be due to problems with engagement in care and poor social connectedness. Although the VA has implemented tools to address Veteran suicide risk, suicide after psychiatric discharge remains an ongoing problem. This has highlighted the need to develop new interventions and approaches to post-discharge mental health care within the VA. In response, this project is a randomized control trial of an intervention an intervention called Prevention of suicide: Education, Awareness, Connection, and Engagement (PEACE). This intervention is comprised of two synergistic and promising components to prevent suicide: 1) a mobile mental health app, which aims to improve social connectedness after discharge; and 2) a manual-based intervention called the Veterans Affairs Brief Intervention and Contact Program (VA-BIC), which promotes engagement in care. The overall goal of this study is to determine if the PEACE intervention combined with standard discharge care reduces suicidal ideation as compared to a control group receiving only standard discharge care.
Study Details
Timeline
Interventions
The intervention consists of three synergistic components that work to support the patient after inpatient psychiatric discharge: 1) Brief educational component, where the patient receives a one-hour, one-on-one, personalized educational session on suicide prevention; 2) Seven regular contacts after discharge, where the study psychologist who delivered the brief educational visit will contact the patient to monitor the patient's symptoms, assess treatment adherence, review their safety plan, and assist the patient with engaging in care, if needed; and 3) Mobile app, which aims to improve the patient's social connectedness and provide additional educational materials on suicide.
Current VA standard discharge care includes five core elements. First, patients and their outpatient providers are required to be involved in discharge planning. Second, patients should be offered evidence-based treatments to address their mental health symptoms. Third, the inpatient team should work with the patient to complete a safety plan prior to discharge. Fourth, the inpatient team should arrange two follow-up care visits within 30 days of discharge. Fifth, the inpatient team in conjunction with the SPC assess whether patients are appropriate to be placed on the High Risk for Suicide List. Patients who are placed on the High Risk for Suicide List receive enhanced oversight as outlined in VA policy.