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Suicide Prevention

Team-based Primary Care and Suicide Prevention in the VA: Perspectives from the Front Lines


by Jennifer Funderburk, PhD ; Brooke Levandowski, PhD, MPA ; Marsha Wittink, MD, MBE
Seminar date: 11/14/2016

Description: This research focused on primary care practices in the Veterans Health Administration as an exemplar health system that has both a vested interest in preventing suicide and has rapidly and systematically adopted a team-based approach to primary care. VHA primary care based suicide screening efforts have improved over the last decade although suicide attempt and completion rates have not changed significantly. Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACTs) integrate behavioral health services into primary care settings and also have access to a local suicide prevention coordinator (SPC) at the facility level to help with screening, assessment and management of actively or potentially suicidal patients. This presentation will share results from a mixed methods research study that explored primary care stakeholders’ (primary care providers, RNs/LPNs, SPCs, behavioral health providers) perceptions of: 1) the barriers and facilitators to implementing suicide prevention procedures and 2) attitudes and beliefs, autonomy support, and competence with respect to implementing suicide prevention procedure. Intended audience: clinicians, researchers, and public health professionals.



DOWNLOAD: PDF handout | Audio only (mp3) | transcript


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