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

Dr. Lilian Dindo (first author) published an article on an open pilot trial of acceptance and commitment therapy to improve retention in care for out-of-care persons with HIV in the Journal of Clinical Medicine. Fifteen hospitalized patients with poorly controlled HIV enrolled in the trial. Eight patients completed four sessions and two patients completed three sessions. Seven patients provided qualitative feedback. Patients universally liked the intervention and holistic approach to mental health and HIV care. Refinements to the intervention included repeating key concepts, including representative graphics, and translating to Spanish. The authors plan to conduct a randomized clinical trial exploring the impact of the refined intervention to treatment as usual on retention in care and viral load.

Drs. Corey Hayes (first author), Michael Cucciare, and Teresa Hudson published an open access article on using data science to improve outcomes for persons with opioid use disorder in Substance Abuse. The authors discussed how using “big data” (electronic health records, claims, mobiles/sensors, social media) along with specific machine learning techniques (predictive modeling, natural language processing, reinforcement learning) can help retain persons receiving medication treatment for opioid use disorder in care.

Dr. Gala True coauthored a paper on a mixed methods approach to model contingency in Veteran community reintegration outcomes in the Journal of Mixed Methods Research. The authors used configurational methods and qualitative thematic analysis to identify combinations of conditions that led to success or lack of success in community reintegration. Findings showed that multiple contingent relationships work together in explaining reintegration, including social support, purpose, cultural adjustment, and military separation experiences.

Dr. Sacha McBain (first author) published an article about integrating trauma and health psychology training to address medical trauma in the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings. The authors discussed the limited implementation of the American College of Surgeons’ March 2022 requirement for mental health screening and referral process in level 1 and level 2 trauma centers. Their paper calls for experts in the fields of trauma and health psychology to come together to effectively address training gaps in post-injury PTSD and medical traumatic stress. Through development of trauma and health psychology cross-training models, the field of psychology can collaborate to meet the increasing demand for trauma-focused psychologists in acute and critical care settings.

Last updated: January 20, 2023