“I remember the skills we learned and put them into practice”: An Evaluation of a Peer Support Training Program for Veterans (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
For many, including military veterans and their families, support between individuals with shared lived experiences, or peer support, has long been utilized as a way to support each other through many different challenges. Building on other reviews and guided by the seven domains of well-being in the Canadian veteran well-being framework, the objective of this paper is to describe and catalogue the nature of peer support activities and related outcomes in the veteran, serving member, and family member populations. A scoping review following the five stages outlined by Arksey and O’Malley was conducted; it was guided by the question: What is currently known about peer support activities for veterans, serving members, and their families that has been evaluated in the literature? In total, 101 publications from 6 different countries were included in this review and catalogued based on publication characteristics, participant information, peer support activity information, and peer info...
Impact of veteran-led peer mentorship on posttraumatic stress disorder
Progress in Community Health Partnerships, 2024
Peer mentorship shows promise as a strategy to support veteran mental health. A community-academic partnership involving a veteran-led nonprofit organization and institutions of higher education evaluated a collaboratively developed peer mentor intervention. We assessed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), postdeployment experiences, social functioning, and psychological strengths at baseline, midpoint, and 12-week discharge using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory-2, Social Adaptation Selfevaluation Scale, and Values in Action Survey. Brief weekly check-in surveys reinforced mentor contact and assessed retention. The sample included 307 veterans who were served by 17 veteran peer mentors. Mixed-effects linear models found a modest effect for PTSD symptom change, with a mean PCL-5 score reduction of 4.04 points, 95% CI [−6.44, −1.64], d = 0.44. More symptomatic veterans showed a larger effect, with average reductions of 9.03 points, 95% CI [-12.11,-5.95], d = 0.77. There were no significant findings for other outcome variables. Compared to younger veterans, those aged 32-57 years were less likely to drop out by 6 weeks, aORs = 0.32-0.26. Week-by-week hazard of drop-out was lower with mentors ≥ 35 years old, aHR = 0.62, 95% CI [0.37, 1.05]. Unadjusted survival differed by mentor military branch, p = .028, but the small mentor sample reduced interpretability. Like many community research efforts, this study lacked a
2018
Trained, Peer Mentorship and Veteran Support Organization Membership to Assist Transitioning Veterans: A Multi-arm, Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial (A Preliminary Investigation) Joseph Carl Geraci Objective: Some Veterans who recently served in the military report significant psychological problems based on their experiences in the military. Stressors that these Veterans face when they transition out of the military can exacerbate these problems and negatively impact their long-term physical and psychological well-being. We are conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the efficacy of providing Veterans who are transitioning back into their civilian communities trained, peer mentorship (Pro Vetus) and membership in a Veteran Support Organization (VSOTeam Red, White, and Blue) to reduce transition stressors, maintain psychological and physical health, reduce suicides and reduce criminal incidents. Method: Six hundred, New York City area Veterans who transitioned...
VET Connect: an emerging peer leadership program for Veterans on campus
Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health
Currently, more than 1 million US Veterans are receiving Veterans Affairs (VA) education benefits to pursue college diplomas, advanced degrees, or vocational training. As increasing numbers of military members return home, colleges and universities must be prepared to support their transition to non-military educational and occupational settings. The VET (Veterans Embracing Transition) Connect Peer Leadership Program was designed to support student Veterans and assist them in transitioning to campus life. This study used a qualitative approach to examine the effects of VET Connect on Peer Leaders. Findings reveal that the program reduced participants' sense of isolation by connecting student Veterans to faculty and staff, to other student Veterans, and to the general student population. Participants reported that VET Connect promoted self-growth and integration, allowing them to transition to campus and civilian life. They reported developing skills such as public speaking and knowledge of campus resources, as well as insight into their emotions and self-acceptance. Participants also reported experiencing a renewed sense of purpose. Overall, findings suggest that VET Connect may serve as a potent high impact practice that engages Veterans in college and reduces the loneliness and distress that often accompany reintegration to the civilian world.
BMC Health Services Research
Background: Approximately 600,000 persons are released from prison annually in the United States. Relatively few receive sufficient re-entry services and are at risk for unemployment, homelessness, poverty, substance abuse relapse and recidivism. Persons leaving prison who have a mental illness and/or a substance use disorder are particularly challenged. This project aims to create a peer mentor program to extend the reach and effectiveness of reentry services provided by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA). We will implement a peer support for reentry veterans sequentially in two states. Our outcome measures are 1) fidelity of the intervention, 2) linkage to VA health care and, 3) continued engagement in health care. The aims for this project are as follows: (1) Conduct contextual analysis to identify VA and community reentry resources, and describe how reentry veterans use them. (2) Implement peer-support, in one state, to link reentry veterans to Veterans' Health Administration (VHA) primary care, mental health, and SUD services. (3) Port the peer-support intervention to another, geographically, and contextually different state. Design: This intervention involves a 2-state sequential implementation study (Massachusetts, followed by Pennsylvania) using a Facilitation Implementation strategy. We will conduct formative and summative analyses, including assessment of fidelity, and a matched comparison group to evaluate the intervention's outcomes of veteran linkage and engagement in VHA health care (using health care utilization measures). The study proceeds in 3 phases. Discussion: We anticipate that a peer support program will be effective at improving the reentry process for veterans, particularly in linking them to health, mental health, and SUD services and helping them to stay engaged in those services. It will fill a gap by providing veterans with access to a trusted individual, who understands their experience as a veteran and who has experienced justice involvement. The outputs from this project, including training materials, peer guidebooks, and implementation strategies can be adapted by other states and regions that wish to enhance services for veterans (or other populations) leaving incarceration. A larger cluster-randomized implementationeffectiveness study is planned. Trial registration: This protocol is registered with clinicaltrials.gov on November 4, 2016 and was assigned the number NCT02964897.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2010
Citizen soldiers (National Guard and Reserves) represent approximately 40% of the two million armed forces deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Twenty-five to forty percent of them develop PTSD, clinical depression, sleep disturbances, or suicidal thoughts. Upon returning home, many encounter additional stresses and hurdles to obtaining care: specifically, many civilian communities lack military medical/psychiatric facilities; financial, job, home, and relationship stresses have evolved or have been exacerbated during deployment; uncertainty has increased related to future deployment; there is loss of contact with military peers; and there is reluctance to recognize and acknowledge mental health needs that interfere with treatment entry and adherence. Approximately half of those needing help are not receiving it. To address this constellation of issues, a private-public partnership was formed under the auspices of the Welcome Back Veterans Initiative. In Michigan, the Army National Guard teamed with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University to develop innovative peer-to-peer programs for soldiers (Buddy-to-Buddy) and augmented programs for military families. Goals are to improve treatment entry, adherence, clinical outcomes, and to reduce suicides. This manuscript describes training approaches, preliminary results, and explores future national dissemination.
Journal of Veterans Studies
Reintegration is known to be a difficult time for veterans. Peer support programs offer a good strategy for military and veterans, particularly as it relates to reintegration. We review an innovative, peer support program implemented at a veteran run community agricultural initiative (CAI). This project was a case-study evaluation using a mixed methods design including participant observations; qualitative interviews with a total of 34 CAI members and affiliates; and administered surveys to a total of 67 CAI members and affiliates. Survey results suggested that CAI participation contributed to improvements in communication, forming bonds, and developing new friendships with veterans, non-veterans, family members, and strangers, as well as increased involvement in community events. Interviews revealed that the CAI's informal peer-support culture and intentional normalization of sharing stories helped promote wellness and reintegration. The CAI continues to refine its peer support model. The organization is overcoming common barriers by leveraging community partnerships to bring veterans into the fold and expanding their peer support model to veteran organizations with similar missions. This approach will ultimately lead to a culture of peer support across agencies and spread the reach of the CAI's mission for veterans.
Purpose: Telephone motivational coaching has been shown to increase ur- ban veteran mental health treatment initiation. However, no studies have tested telephone motivational coaching delivered by veteran peers to facili- tate mental health treatment initiation and engagement. This study describes pre-implementation strategies with 8 Veterans Affairs (VA) community-based outpatient clinics in the West and Mid-South United States to adapt and im- plement a multisite pragmatic randomized controlled trial of telephone peer motivational coaching for rural veterans. Methods: We used 2 pre-implementation strategies, Formative Evaluation (FE) research and Evidence-Based Quality Improvement (EBQI) meetings to adapt the intervention to stakeholders’ needs and cultural contexts. FE data were qualitative, semi-structured interviews with rural veterans and VA clinic staff. Results were rapidly analyzed and presented to stakeholders during EBQI meetings to optimize the intervention implementation. Findings: FE research results showed that VA clinic providers felt over- whelmed by veterans’ mental health needs and acknowledged limited mental health services at VA clinics. Rural veteran interviews indicated geographical, logistical, and cultural barriers to VA mental health treatment initiation and a preference for self-care to cope with mental health symptoms. EBQI meet- ings resulted in several intervention adaptations, including veteran study re- cruitment, peer veteran coach training, and an expanded definition of mental health care outcomes. Conclusions: As the VA moves to cultivate community partnerships in order to personalize and expand access to care for rural veterans, pre- implementation processes with engaged stakeholders, such as those described here, can help guide other researchers and clinicians to achieve proactive and veteran-centered health care services.
Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 2020
Veteran community engagement is an evolving discipline informed by traditional community-based participatory research, veteran studies, and veterans themselves. This Special Issue suggests that research collaborations including military veterans, soldiers, and their families as co-researchers is a critical next step toward a designing thinking perspective in social and healthcare systems for this population. This Special Issue was conceptualized through a veteran community-academic partnership formed over a decade ago. We briefly describe the activities of this partnership from 2008 to present in order to frame the praxis considerations within this issue. The partnership hosted several Warrior Summit conferences from 2013 to present, with the last of this series calling for academic contributions. The resulting papers drawn from the conference and other authors form this issue, and include a wide range of topics: Arts-and theater-based interventions for PTSD; engaging veteran college students in higher education; combining strengths