VISN1 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA Bedford Healthcare System, Bedford, MA, USA.
Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Community Ment Health J. 2022 Nov;58(8):1544-1553. doi: 10.1007/s10597-022-00969-z. Epub 2022 May 7.
Increasing social connection and access to care has been found to decrease the rate of suicide in U.S. veterans. The Veteran Outreach Into the Community to Expand Social Support (VOICES) is an intervention developed by Department Veteran Affairs (VA) staff to improve social connection and provide information about services by implementing community-based Veterans Socials. Seventy veterans at eight locations completed an anonymous cross-sectional survey. This evaluation examined three domains, acceptability (i.e., perceived value), demand (i.e., estimated or actual use), and expansion (i.e., sustainability and increase of Veterans Socials across time and locations). Findings indicated considerable levels of acceptability, demand for, and expansion of this intervention. Additionally, data suggested this intervention may increase social connection and utilization of VA services among attendees.
增加社交联系和获得医疗护理被发现可以降低美国退伍军人的自杀率。退伍军人社区外联扩大社会支持（VOICES）是退伍军人事务部（VA）工作人员为了改善社交联系和提供有关服务信息而开发的一种干预措施，其通过实施基于社区的退伍军人社交活动来实现。有 70 名退伍军人在 8 个地点完成了一项匿名横断面调查。该评估检查了三个领域，即可接受性（即感知价值）、需求（即估计或实际使用）和扩展（即可持续性和随时间和地点增加退伍军人社交活动）。结果表明，该干预措施具有相当程度的可接受性、需求和扩展性。此外，数据表明，该干预措施可能会增加参加者的社交联系和对 VA 服务的利用。
