MIRECC / CoE

Podcast: On Ethnography in Implementation Science with Dr. Lindsey Martin

9 January 2019 - Dr. Lindsey Ann Martin, a medical anthropologist from the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas discusses with Adam the role of ethnographic methods in the field of implementation science at the recent 2018 D&I conference in Washington, DC. In this podcast, Lindsey talks about how she is using ‘periodic reflections’, a method developed by Drs. Erin Finley (San Antonio VA) and Alison Hamilton (Greater Los Angeles VA), to evaluate a facilitation strategy to implement video telehealth to home (VTH) for rural Veterans.

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Pub: Military sexual trauma survivors' perceptions of veterans health administration care: A qualitative examination

27 December 2018 - RMIRECC Investigators Lindsey Monteith, PhD, Nazanin Bahraini, PhD, Brooke Dorsey Holliman, PhD, Alexandra Schneider, BA, Ryan Holliday, PhD, and Bridget Matarazzo, PsyD combined with Holly Gerber on this qualitative review. The study found, "The majority of participants described neutral or positive perceptions of VHA care; however, a subset of participants described negative perceptions and reservations about using VHA care. Participants expressed concerns regarding distrust, provider compassion, privacy, stigma, shame, and continuity of care. Some women, particularly those who experienced military sexual assault, also described gender-related distress (e.g., feeling anxious or out of place, desire for separate facilities). Both men and women described wanting nonspecific support, improved continuity of care, and the ability to choose from a variety of treatment options (e.g., holistic, gender-specific). Further research is needed to examine if these findings are replicated in other samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)." Read more

Webinar: Food Insecurity and Mental Health: Contextualizing Nutrition in Psychosocial Functioning

13 December 2018 - Dr. Diana Brostow, PhD, MPH, RDN recently gave an VA HSR&D webinar that explored how consistent, affordable access to nutritious food (food security) is increasingly viewed as an important determinant of health. Emerging research suggests that rather than being solely an issue of hunger and physical food access, food insecurity may be viewed as a complex, multifactorial concept comprised of the psychological, social, cultural, as well as environmental factors that shape eating behaviors. Also, an article appeared in the Dayton Daily News (12 December 2018) detailing how food insecurity affects Veterans locally. Dr. Brostow is quoted, "Veterans are proud, and they have a reason to be proud. Food insecurity has a lot of stigma associated with it. It’s hard for people to ask for help. Food is such a basic, primal need. For a person to say, ‘Hey, I’m having trouble feeding myself,’ takes a lot of courage." Read how the Dayton VA is addressing the issue.

A Chat with Our Experts: Seeking new ways to alert physicians to Veteran suicide risk

12 December 2018 - The VA Research Quarterly features an interview Dr. Hal Wortzel. Hal is the Director of Neuropsychiatric consultation services and co-director of the VA Suicide Risk Management Consultation Program. He is also an associate professor of psychiatry, neurology, and physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Colorado. The article explores his research in suicide prevention and also his thoughts on the emerging idea of using a suicide-specific diagnosis code in Veterans' medical records. Read the full article.

Podcast: On Moral Injury - A Treatment Perspective with Dr. Chris Corona

12 December 2018 - In this podcast Georgia interviews Dr. Chris Corona, post-doctoral fellow at the VISN 2 Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center, to continue the discussion on moral injury. Moral injury is a relatively new concept and our understanding of how it relates to suicide risk is limited. Dr. Corona provides a thorough overview of moral injury and ways providers can assess and treat moral injury as well as sharing findings from current research on moral injury and suicide risk in a population of Veterans with substance use disorders and ideas for future research.

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Pub: Trajectory of Postconcussive Symptoms 12-Months Post-Deployment in Soldiers with and without Mild Traumatic Brain Injury - Warrior STRONG Study

6 December 2018 - RMIRECC Director Dr. Lisa Brenner worked on this Warrior STRONG study that found, "The prevalence of clinically relevant postconcussive symptoms remained relatively constant over one year of follow-up, whether or not symptoms were associated with concussion. Service members with recent mTBI reported more symptoms than non-mTBI at all time-points." Read more.

Pub: Developing Predictive Models to Enhance Clinician Prediction of Suicide Attempts Among Veterans With and Without PTSD

4 December 2018 - RMIRECC Drs. Sean Barnes, Lindsey Monteith, Jeri Forster, Sarra Nazem, Lauren Borges, and Nasi Bahraini and Kelly Stearns-Yoder collaborated on this article. From the abstract, "OBJECTIVE: The authors aimed to build and test a predictive model of Suicide Attampts (SA) that included established risk factors and measures of suicide risk, and Death Implicit Association Test (IAT) scores. The authors also sought to test the predictive validity of the SA model among subgroups of Veterans with and without PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that predictive models may bolster clinician prediction of SAs and that predictors may differ for Veterans with PTSD." Read more.

Pub: Exploring service dogs for rehabilitation of veterans with PTSD: A microbiome perspective

4 December 2018 - RMIRECC and MVMCore Drs. Lt. Col. Andrew Hoisington, Katherine Bates, Chris Stamper, Christopher Lowry and Lisa Brenner, also Kelly Stearns-Yoder participated on this paper. From the abstract, "RESULTS: Whether dogs can be used as an intervention to increase function among those with PTSD remains a question. Nonetheless, it has been suggested that dog ownership may improve mental health outcomes via multiple mechanisms, such as decreasing social isolation and increasing physical activity and exposure to green spaces. The presence of a dog in the home may alter the human inhabitants' microbiomes, thereby, potentially providing an additional mechanism through which service dogs may influence human health and well-being. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Theoretically, the use of service dogs for rehabilitation of Veterans with PTSD could improve mental health outcomes. To the best of our knowledge the impact that therapy dogs have on the microbiome of the owners, as well as their built environments, has yet to be explored." Read more

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