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IIR 19-355 – HSR Study

 
IIR 19-355
Can services to address Veterans social determinants of health reduce their suicide risk?
Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, PhD MSW MPA
Birmingham VA Medical Center, Birmingham, AL
Birmingham, AL
Jennifer True PhD
Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, New Orleans, LA
New Orleans, LA
Funding Period: October 2020 - June 2024
Portfolio Assignment: Mental and Behavioral Health

Abstract

Background: Despite accessible and effective suicide prevention strategies offered by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veteran suicide remains elevated compared to the general US population, indicating a continued need to identify Veterans at risk for suicide and provide interventions to prevent suicide. Suicide prevention can be enhanced when health care systems integrate dynamic social determinants of health (SDH), such as housing instability, justice involvement, and unemployment. Significance/Impact: The goal of this HSR&D Veteran Suicide Prevention project is to address prevention activities that occur “upstream” by examining how services addressing SDH may also prevent suicide among Veterans, key objectives in the VA’s National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide 2018–2028. Innovation: This study will integrate a public health perspective to suicide prevention through a lens of SDH. Rather than focusing specifically on medical intervention, this study will explore—based both on a natural experimental design using existing administrative data and on gathering the perspectives of key informants and Veterans—how addressing SDH can decrease suicide risk, taking into account the complex needs of Veterans who may be at risk for suicide. Specific Aims: This study aims to determine whether VHA services tailored to address SDH may also have an added benefit of preventing suicide mortality; identify organizational assets and opportunities to improve how SDH-focused services address suicide risk among Veterans; and engage Veterans in identifying ways to integrate suicide prevention into VHA programs that respond to SDH. Methodology: The proposed research is a concurrent mixed methods design. Retrospective quantitative analyses will examine how VHA services tailored to Veterans’ SDH (i.e., housing instability, justice involvement, unemployment) may protect against suicide mortality and morbidity. A mixed methods environmental scan will include a questionnaire of staff/key informants and qualitative interviews. Qualitative interviews with Veterans with a history of suicide risk will explore how services to address SDH respond to those needs. Implementation/Next Steps: This project will lead to actionable implementation projects: increased linkages to services for SDH among Veterans with histories of suicidal crisis as well as enhanced training for providers to integrate suicide prevention into services addressing SDH, and vice versa. We have convened an array of VA operations partners—Social Work, VHA Homeless and Justice Programs, employment programs, and VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention—to facilitate removing siloes around SDH and suicide prevention in VA, amplifying VA’s current infrastructure to bolster suicide prevention.

External Links for this Project

NIH Reporter

Grant Number: I01HX003117-01A1
Link: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10068571


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PUBLICATIONS:


Journal Articles

  1. Montgomery AE, Jones KC, True G, deRussy A, Richman JS, Dichter ME, Blosnich JR. Association between receipt of a continuum of supportive housing services and mortality among Veterans with experience of housing instability. American journal of preventive medicine. 2024 Nov 29. [view]
  2. Montgomery AE, Blosnich JR, deRussy A, Richman JS, Dichter ME, True G. Association between Services to Address Adverse Social Determinants of Health and Suicide Mortality among Veterans with Indicators of Housing Instability, Unemployment, and Justice Involvement. Archives of suicide research : official journal of the International Academy for Suicide Research. 2023 Aug 11; 28(3):860-876. [view]
  3. Blosnich JR, DeRussy A, Richman JS, Dichter ME, True G, Montgomery AE. Association Between Use of Services To Address Adverse Social Determinants of Health and Documented Suicide Attempt Among Patients in the Veterans Health Administration. Journal of community health. 2025 Apr 1 DOI: 10.1007/s10900-025-01467-5. [view]
  4. DeRussy A, Byrne T, Nelson R, Richman J, Montgomery AE. Change in Homeless and Health Services Use Following Migration Among Veterans with Experience of Homelessness. Journal of general internal medicine. 2023 Sep 1; 38(12):2655-2661. [view]
  5. Montgomery AE, Jones K, Pandit K, deRussy AJ, Nelson RE, Richman JS, Byrne TH. Change in Outpatient Care Following Migration Among Veterans with Experience of Housing Instability. Journal of general internal medicine. 2025 Apr 7 DOI: 10.1007/s11606-025-09494-7. [view]
  6. Montgomery AE, DeRussy AJ, True G, Blosnich JR. Lethal Means among Veterans with Recent Experience of Housing Instability by Age. American journal of preventive medicine. 2025 Jan 28. [view]
  7. Lin C, DeRussy AJ, Richman JS, Montgomery AE. Predictors of Incident Stroke and Subsequent Mortality Among a Sample of Veterans with Experience of Housing Instability. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved. 2024 Jan 1; 35(2):465-480. [view]
  8. Montgomery AE, DeRussy AJ, Richman JS, Lin C. Predictors of recurrent stroke and subsequent mortality among patients experiencing housing instability. Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association. 2024 Sep 1; 33(9):107896. [view]
  9. True G, Cullen SW, Brecht T, Dichter ME, Blosnich JR, Montgomery AE. Suicide prevention providers' perspectives on addressing social determinants of health for at-risk Veterans. General hospital psychiatry. 2024 Jul 10; 90:84-87. [view]


DRA: Mental, Cognitive and Behavioral Disorders
DRE: Prevention, TRL - Applied/Translational
Keywords: Socioeconomic Factors, Suicide
MeSH Terms: None at this time.

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