Enhancing Veteran-Clinical Collaboration in VA Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Centers

Summary

Over 60% of Veterans with serious mental illness have a service-connected disability that impairs their ability to work, go to school, and/or have successful personal lives. Although traditional treatments tend to focus on symptom remission, Veterans prioritize a range of treatment goals, including personal empowerment and gaining personally meaningful skills. Increasing Veteran-clinician collaboration can help effectively align care with each Veteran's goals and support an empowering therapeutic experience. This project will evaluate the effectiveness of a group-based intervention intended to increase Veterans' comfort, confidence, knowledge, and skills to collaborate with their treatment teams. Findings from this study will contribute important knowledge about this intervention's effectiveness and how to enhance its effectiveness, especially for Veterans from minoritized groups. If the decision-making intervention is effective, it would help Veterans with serious mental illness, and might also help Veterans with other chronic health conditions, like PTSD and chronic pain.

Description

Eligibility

Age range

18+ years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

No

Interventions

• Behavioral
  Collaborative Decision Skills Training

  An ten-session group-based skills training intervention that focuses on treatment-related decision-making in order to facilitate improved engagement in decision-making processes. CDST teaches assertiveness skills, problem solving, goal planning, and conflict negotiation, within the context of treatment planning and decision-making. Each session is 60 minutes long.

• Behavioral
  Leveling Up

  An ten-session group intervention that focuses on psychoeducation, befriending, and Veteran to Veteran support. Each session is 60 minutes long.

Locations (3)