Organizational readiness for implementing comprehensive and tailored Veteran suicide prevention programming in community agencies.
Suicide rates among Veterans were over 70% higher than non-Veterans in 2022, and nearly 60% had not recently used the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Veterans have unique experiences and healthcare needs. VHA provides military culturally competent suicide prevention care to Veterans. There is a lack of research demonstrating that community agencies are adequately prepared to provide military culturally competent care, when appropriate.
The purpose of this analysis was to understand organizational readiness and gaps related to providing military culturally competent Veteran suicide prevention programming in community agencies.
Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 Veteran-serving community agencies to assess each organization's interactions with and navigation of VHA and care coordination, suicide prevention policies, procedures, and quality improvement, staff training on suicide prevention and military cultural competency, Veteran status screening procedures, crisis line dissemination, and suicide prevention metric tracking.
Organizations lack awareness of their role in Veteran suicide prevention, and lack of readiness to implement comprehensive and military culturally competent Veteran suicide prevention programming. Salient implementation needs included: screening for Veteran status, collection of metrics, military cultural competency and suicide prevention training, Veterans Crisis Line dissemination, suicide prevention policies and standardized operating procedures, and care coordination between community agencies and VHA.
Findings suggest a need to bolster intraorganizational readiness to provide comprehensive and tailored suicide prevention programming to Veterans receiving care in the community with the aim of strengthening a community-wide safety net to reduce Veteran suicide deaths.
The purpose of this analysis was to understand organizational readiness and gaps related to providing military culturally competent Veteran suicide prevention programming in community agencies.
Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 Veteran-serving community agencies to assess each organization's interactions with and navigation of VHA and care coordination, suicide prevention policies, procedures, and quality improvement, staff training on suicide prevention and military cultural competency, Veteran status screening procedures, crisis line dissemination, and suicide prevention metric tracking.
Organizations lack awareness of their role in Veteran suicide prevention, and lack of readiness to implement comprehensive and military culturally competent Veteran suicide prevention programming. Salient implementation needs included: screening for Veteran status, collection of metrics, military cultural competency and suicide prevention training, Veterans Crisis Line dissemination, suicide prevention policies and standardized operating procedures, and care coordination between community agencies and VHA.
Findings suggest a need to bolster intraorganizational readiness to provide comprehensive and tailored suicide prevention programming to Veterans receiving care in the community with the aim of strengthening a community-wide safety net to reduce Veteran suicide deaths.
Authors
Russell Russell, Mignogna Mignogna, Monteith Monteith, Mohatt Mohatt, Benzer Benzer, Villarreal Villarreal, Borah Borah, Bryan Bryan, Bongiovanni Bongiovanni, Hoffmire Hoffmire, Peterson Peterson, Heise Heise, Baack Baack, Weinberg Weinberg, Polk Polk, DeBeer DeBeer
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