Veteran Engagement

• Overview
• A Brief History
• Veteran Voices in Research: Partners in Discovery
• Veteran Engagement Groups
• Additional Resources

Overview

Veteran engagement is the meaningful collaboration between Veterans and researchers across all stages of the research process, including design, conduct, and dissemination. Engaging Veterans and their caregivers as subject-matter experts with valuable experiences, beliefs, and expertise has emerged as a powerful way to guide research decisions, improve outcomes, and build trust in VA. Today, the Health Systems Research (HSR) broad portfolio of VA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) requires study proposals to include plans for engaging Veterans and/or caregivers throughout.

This concept of collaborative research aligns with the goals of a learning health system, which turns the experience of caring for patients into insights and improves and accelerates the uptake of discoveries and innovations in clinical practice. VA researchers can engage with Veterans and their caregivers in many ways, in varying degrees of both purpose and intensity. More than 37 Veteran engagement groups—and counting—work with researchers nationwide, most through HSR Centers of Innovation (COINs) or Consortia of Research (COREs).

A Brief History of Veteran Engagement in VA’s Health Systems Research

The concept of patient-centered or community-based participatory research (CBPR) goes back decades, and active consultation among Veterans, caregivers, and researchers is not new. A growing number of Veteran and HSR collaborators have been working together on studies and projects in recent years. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 supported this expansion by establishing the non-profit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which funds patient-guided research nationwide.

The first Veteran engagement groups to be formally established within VA’s research program were aligned with the Seattle-Denver Center of Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care and the Portland VA’s Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC). Both were formed in 2013.

In 2015, HSR established a national Veteran Engagement Workgroup comprised of investigators, Veteran engagement liaisons, Veterans, and caregivers. The Workgroup has expanded efforts to include the engagement of Veterans and their caregivers in the research process, developed approaches and goals for promoting Veteran engagement in research, and outlined a conceptual model for Veteran engagement. The group meets virtually every 2 months. Contact Susan Zickmund [Susan.Zickmund@va.gov] if you would like to join the national Veteran Engagement Workgroup.

In 2018, a team of researchers from seven VA centers developed the Strengthening Excellence in Research through Veteran Engagement (SERVE) Toolkit, a resource to support VA research centers and investigators in their efforts to include Veterans and other stakeholders in the development, implementation, and dissemination of studies. To expand this focus beyond urban academic centers, VA’s Office of Rural Health funded the Growing Rural Outreach through Veteran Engagement (GROVE) Center in 2020. Among other activities, GROVE hosts annual community of practice sessions for VA engagement professionals. GROVE Hub is a regularly updated platform where rural Veterans and caregivers can learn about opportunities and connect with project leaders—and where researchers can learn about opportunities to collaborate with rural Veterans and caregivers.

Alongside these efforts, HSR established national research networks and consortia to strengthen collaboration and build research and implementation capacity in priority areas of Veteran health and care delivery, such as suicide prevention and virtual care. By 2024, these national research networks had developed a variety of activities to facilitate Veteran-engaged research including national Veteran engagement groups that consult with researchers and leaders across VA on topics in each network's priority areas. These activities can help advance Veteran engagement in VA health systems research, especially before project funding is secured. COREs also actively contribute to disseminating engagement best practices via seminars and publications.

Veteran Voices in Research: Partners in Discovery

Veteran Voices in Research showcases the people and programs that foster Veteran engagement and demonstrates how Veteran collaborators improve the quality, relevance, and impact of VA research.

Veteran Engagement Groups

Throughout the VA Health Care System, a growing number of Veteran Engagement Groups collaborate across all stages of the research process. Learn more about the Veteran Engagement Groups.

Additional Resources

• The Elizabeth Dole Center of Excellence for Veteran and Caregiver Research
• The Elizabeth Dole Foundation
• The Elizabeth Dole Foundation
• Sides TL, Argust MM, Jensen AC, et al. Building and Sustaining Patient Engagement Infrastructure Focused on Overdose Prevention Within a US Veterans Affairs National Research Network. Health Expectations. August 2026;29(4):e70774.
• Patient Engagement Activities and Infrastructure Among US Veterans Affairs National Research Networks. Sides TL, Wisdom J, Argust MM, et al. Journal of General Internal Medicine. November 7, 2025; online ahead of print.
• Ackland PE, Hagedorn HJ, Kenny ME, et al. Using brief reflections to capture and evaluate end-user engagement: a case example using the COMPASS study. BMC Medical Research Methodology. May 2, 2024;24:103.
• Experiences and lessons learned from a patient-engagement service established by a national research consortium in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration. Sides TL, Jensen AC, Argust MM, et al. Learning Health Systems. 2024 Apr;8(3):e10421.
• Stakeholder engagement infrastructure to support multicenter research networks: Advances from the clinical research networks participating in PCORnet. Cope EL, McTigue KM, Forrest CB, et al. Learning Health Systems. May 12, 2022;7(1):e10313.
• "Not all groups come together, but this one just clicks": Ten Tips for Sustaining an Engagement Panel. Jensen AC, Amundson EC, Brown C, et al. Journal of General Internal Medicine. April 2022;37(S1):80–82.
• A special supplement of the Journal of General Internal Medicine on patient and Veteran engagement in research was supported jointly by PCORI and VA HSR with the goal of sharing lessons learned from partnered research with health systems and health care delivery science researchers. It includes 23 articles on Veteran Engagement related topics: Journal of General Internal Medicine. March 29, 2022;37(S1). 
• Patient-Centered Outcome Research Institute (PCORI) resources on patient engagement: The Value of Engagement in Research. 
• The Future of Veteran Community Engagement: Perspectives on Engaging Veterans and Other Stakeholders in Research Agenda Setting. Chavez MA, Blevins KR, Brown C, et al. Journal of Veterans Studies. 2022;8(2):21–35.
• Building an Effective and Empowered Community Advisory Board for Veterans. Brown KM, Walker L, Kaminstein DS. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. 2020;65(5):1088-1109.
• Sharing ACCENT VCEP Practices to Enhance Engagement among Researchers, Veterans, and Caregivers (available on the VA intranet: vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/for_researchers/cyber_seminars/archives/video_archive.cfm?SessionID=7772 Copy and paste into your browser if you have VA network access.), a presentation by ACCENT VCEP members and the facilitation team to highlight perspectives and personal experiences of its members, particularly their thoughts on how to further promote Veteran- and Caregiver-engaged research.
• Wendleton LR, Martin LA, Stewart Steffensmeier KR, et al. Building Sustainable Models of Veteran-Engaged Health Services Research. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. 2023;63(6):848–874.

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