MIRECC / CoE

Publication Highlights

Articles and books authored by our affiliates enable us to share research and knowledge about mental health treatment with our Veteran, caregiver, provider and research communities.

Highlighted Articles

Drs. Alexander Uzdavines (first author), Tracey Smith, and Lilian Dindo coauthored a protocol paper on their randomized controlled trial of acceptance and commitment training for Veterans with polytrauma in Contemporary Clinical Trials. This in-progress study compares the efficacy of a one-day Acceptance and Commitment Training plus Education, Resources, and Support (ACT+ERS) workshop to a one-day active control group of only ERS on symptoms of distress and social, occupational, and community reintegration. The results of this study will provide important information about the impact of a brief intervention for Veterans with these concerns facilitating the psychological adjustment and reintegration of Veterans with polytrauma.

Drs. Jennifer Bryan and Ali Abbas Asghar-Ali co-authored a scoping review paper of recommendations and training to respond to microaggressions from patients in Academic Psychiatry. For the first time, their review collected and summarized currently available recommendations and resources pertaining to microaggressions in clinical settings. It also underscored the rapid growth and interest in the ethics of addressing microaggressions while maintaining the safety of healthcare professionals.

Drs. Claire Houtsma, Joseph Boffa, Joseph Constans, Laurel Franklin, and Amanda Raines coauthored an article about suicide risk among rural Veterans in the Journal of Rural Mental Health. Applying the interpersonal theory of suicide, authors found that perceived burdensomeness, but not thwarted belongingness, predicted suicidal ideation, plans, preparations, and intent after controlling for depression symptom severity. They conclude that future efforts toward developing scalable interventions that target perceived burdensomeness may help reduce suicide rates among at-risk Veterans.

Drs. Jeffrey Pyne (first author), Traci Abraham and Brandon Griffin published an article on their feasibility study to address moral injury among Veterans with mental health clinicians and community clergy in the Journal of Religion & Health. (2021). Their Mental Health Clinician Community Chaplain Collaboration (MC4) was delivered by community clergy to address moral injury symptoms through facilitation of forgiveness and community reintegration. Authors found MC4 to be generally feasible and acceptable to participants but shifting intervention delivery to VA chaplains will ease many barriers that were experienced.

Dr. Jan Lindsay and colleagues’ work on the implementation and evaluation of the manualized and web-based webSTAIR program (PI: Marylene Cloitre) resulted in four recent publications for the project. Learn more about the project in the January/February issue of VA HSR&D Veterans’ Perspectives newsletter. The new publications are:

1. Fletcher TL, Amspoker AB, Wassef M, Hogan JB, Helm A, Jackson C, Jacobs A, Speicher S, Lindsay JA, & Cloitre M (2021). Increasing access to care for trauma-exposed rural Veterans: A mixed methods outcome evaluation of a web-based skills training program with telehealth-delivered coaching. The Journal of Rural Health. Advance online publication.
2. Chen PV, Helm A, Fletcher T, Wassef M, Hogan J, Amspoker A, Cloitre M, & Lindsay JA (2021). Seeing the value of video: A qualitative study on patient preference for using video in a Veteran Affairs telemental health program evaluation. Telemedicine Reports 2(1), 156-162.
3. Bauer A, Amspoker AB, Fletcher TL, Jackson C, Jacobs A, Hogan J, Shammet R, Speicher S, Lindsay JA, & Cloitre M (2021). A resource building virtual care programme: Improving symptoms and social functioning among female and male rural Veterans. European Journal of Psychotraumatology 12(1), 1860357.
4. Cloitre M, Amspoker AB, Wassef M, Hogan JB, Fletcher TL, Jackson C, Jacobs A, Shammet R, Speicher S, & Lindsay JA (in press). Comparing the ratio of support to internet sessions in a blended therapy delivered to trauma-exposed Veterans. Journal of Internet Medical Research.

Last updated: January 28, 2022