Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Implementation strategy to increase clinicians' use of the caring letters suicide prevention intervention.

Reger MA, Jegley SM, Porter SA, Woods JA, Liu L, Markman JD, Landes SJ. Implementation strategy to increase clinicians' use of the caring letters suicide prevention intervention. Psychological Services. 2022 Mar 14; doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000637.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

Caring Letters is recommended in multiple best practice guidelines; however, the Caring Letters intervention has not been widely implemented. The process of tracking, scheduling, and mailing letters for multiple patients over many months may represent a significant barrier for busy clinicians. This evaluation examined whether the use of centralized administrative support (Centralized Caring Letters; CCL) was associated with increased utilization of the intervention. These procedures were tested in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Recovery Engagement and Coordination for Health-Veterans Enhanced Treatment (REACH VET) program. In REACH VET, VA clinicians are routinely asked to consider Caring Letters as one option for veterans identified as at-risk. In this evaluation, clinicians at two VA facilities were offered assistance in the tracking, preparation, mailing, and documentation of Caring Letters for veterans they chose to enroll in CCL. The utilization of Caring Letters increased more than 14-fold after CCL was implemented. In the year that preceded CCL, 3% of REACH VET veterans were sent Caring Letters at the two sites; this increased to 43% of cases after the implementation of CCL (45% at Site 1 and 41% at Site 2). In qualitative interviews with providers, clinicians described Caring Letters as beneficial and stated that the centralized features of the program were helpful. Caring Letters were discontinued for 30% of enrolled veterans, often because of a bad address (9% of enrolled) or relocation (8% of enrolled). Although there are barriers for the use of Caring Letters, CCL was associated with a very large increase in the use of Caring Letters. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.