United States Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Quality Enhancement Research Initiative, North Little Rock, Arkansas 72114, USA.
J Rural Health. 2011 Winter;27(4):416-24. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-0361.2011.00362.x. Epub 2011 Feb 11.
Many veterans who face mental illness and live in rural areas never obtain the mental health care they need. To address these needs, it is important to reach out to community stakeholders who are likely to have frequent interactions with veterans, particularly those returning from Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF).
Three community stakeholder groups-clergy, postsecondary educators, and criminal justice personnel-are of particular importance for OEF/OIF veterans living in rural areas and may be more likely to come into contact with rural veterans struggling with mental illness or substance abuse than the formal health care system. This article briefly describes the conceptualization, development, initial implementation, and early evaluation of a Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center-based program designed to improve engagement in, and access to, mental health care for veterans returning to rural areas.
One year since initial funding, 90 stakeholders have attended formal training workshops (criminal justice personnel = 36; educators = 31; clergy = 23). Two training formats (a 2-hour workshop and an intensive 2.5-day workshop) have been developed and provided to clergy in 1 rural county with another county scheduled for training. A veteran outreach initiative, which has received 32 referrals for various student services, has been established on 4 rural college campuses. A Veterans Treatment Court also has been established with 16 referrals for eligibility assessments.
While this pilot program is in the early stages of evaluation, its success to date has encouraged program and VA clinical leadership to expand beyond the original sites.
许多面临精神疾病和居住在农村地区的退伍军人从未获得他们所需的精神卫生保健。为了满足这些需求，与社区利益相关者建立联系很重要，这些利益相关者可能与退伍军人有频繁的互动，尤其是那些从持久自由行动和伊拉克自由行动中返回的退伍军人。
三个社区利益相关者群体——神职人员、高等教育工作者和刑事司法人员——对于居住在农村地区的持久自由行动/伊拉克自由行动退伍军人特别重要，他们可能比正规医疗保健系统更有可能接触到与精神疾病或药物滥用作斗争的农村退伍军人。本文简要描述了一个退伍军人事务部医疗中心为改善返回农村地区的退伍军人接受和获得精神卫生保健服务而设计的方案的概念化、制定、初步实施和早期评估。
自最初资金到位以来的一年中，已有 90 名利益相关者参加了正式的培训研讨会（刑事司法人员=36；教育工作者=31；神职人员=23）。已经开发并向 1 个农村县的神职人员提供了两种培训形式（2 小时的研讨会和为期 2.5 天的强化研讨会），另一个县也计划进行培训。已经在 4 个农村大学校园建立了一个退伍军人外展倡议，该倡议已收到 32 项各种学生服务的转介。还设立了一个退伍军人治疗法院，已有 16 项转介进行资格评估。
虽然这个试点项目仍处于评估的早期阶段，但迄今为止的成功已经鼓励了项目和退伍军人事务部临床领导层在最初的基础上扩大规模。
