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Promoting High-Value Mental Health Care
Published Online: 13 February 2024

A Self-Help Crisis Outreach Effort for At-Risk Primary Care Patients: A Pilot Study of Veterans During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Stressful events can exacerbate symptoms of psychiatric disorders among primary care patients, putting them at increased risk for suicide. In a pilot study that ran from August to December of 2020, researchers evaluated the acceptability and implementation of Managing Emotions in Disaster and Crisis (MEDIC), a self-help intervention designed to assist at-risk primary care patients. A total of 108 at-risk veterans completed baseline and 6-week assessments. Results were promising, with high patient acceptability and engagement along with improvement in all measures of mental illness symptoms from baseline to posttreatment. Self-help interventions like MEDIC may offer a low-burden way for primary care providers to support more patients.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 504 - 507
PubMed: 38347813

History

Received: 29 March 2023
Revision received: 24 August 2023
Accepted: 3 October 2023
Published online: 13 February 2024
Published in print: May 01, 2024

Keywords

  1. Prevention
  2. Primary care
  3. Affective disorders
  4. Veterans issue
  5. Crisis intervention
  6. self-help

Authors

Details

Jennifer S. Funderburk, Ph.D. [email protected]
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato, Johnson, Roelk, Martin, Wray); Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato); VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, New York (Louer-Thompson).
Robyn L. Shepardson, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato, Johnson, Roelk, Martin, Wray); Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato); VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, New York (Louer-Thompson).
Kyle Possemato, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato, Johnson, Roelk, Martin, Wray); Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato); VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, New York (Louer-Thompson).
Emily M. Johnson, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato, Johnson, Roelk, Martin, Wray); Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato); VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, New York (Louer-Thompson).
Brandi Roelk, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato, Johnson, Roelk, Martin, Wray); Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato); VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, New York (Louer-Thompson).
Elizabeth Louer-Thompson, L.C.S.W.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato, Johnson, Roelk, Martin, Wray); Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato); VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, New York (Louer-Thompson).
Jessica Martin, Psy.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato, Johnson, Roelk, Martin, Wray); Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato); VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, New York (Louer-Thompson).
Laura O. Wray, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato, Johnson, Roelk, Martin, Wray); Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York (Funderburk, Shepardson, Possemato); VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, New York (Louer-Thompson).

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Funderburk ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

This work is supported by Veterans Health Administration Health Services Research and Development (HSRD) COVID Rapid Response grant C19 20-206 (to Drs. Funderburk and Shepardson) as well as by resources from the VA Center for Integrated Healthcare. Drs. Shepardson and Johnson were supported by Veterans Health Administration Career Development Awards (HSRD IK2 HX002107, RR&D 1IK2RX003390-01A1).The funding sources had no role in the study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the views or official policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or other departments of the U.S. government.

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