DBT Skills Groups for Veterans at High Risk for Suicide Attempt

Description

Veteran suicide death is a national crisis. Risk factors include emotion dysregulation, which occurs across mental health disorders. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based suicide intervention that targets emotion dysregulation but is resource-intensive and not widely available at VHA. A more efficient evidence-based DBT Skills Group (DBT-SG) is associated with reduced suicidal ideation and emotion dysregulation and likely more feasible to implement at VHA. This is a randomized controlled trial to test whether DBT-SG in addition to VHA treatment-as-usual, compared to only VHA treatment-as-usual, reduces Veteran emotion dysregulation.

Conditions

Suicide, Attempted

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Study Overview

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Study Details

Study overview

Veteran suicide death is a national crisis. Risk factors include emotion dysregulation, which occurs across mental health disorders. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based suicide intervention that targets emotion dysregulation but is resource-intensive and not widely available at VHA. A more efficient evidence-based DBT Skills Group (DBT-SG) is associated with reduced suicidal ideation and emotion dysregulation and likely more feasible to implement at VHA. This is a randomized controlled trial to test whether DBT-SG in addition to VHA treatment-as-usual, compared to only VHA treatment-as-usual, reduces Veteran emotion dysregulation.

A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Multisite Trial of a Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group for Veterans at High-Risk for Suicide Attempt

DBT Skills Groups for Veterans at High Risk for Suicide Attempt

Condition
Suicide, Attempted
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

San Diego

VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, San Diego, California, United States, 92161-0002

West Haven

VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus, West Haven, CT, West Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06516-2770

Tampa

James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, FL, Tampa, Florida, United States, 33612

Albuquerque

New Mexico VA Health Care System, Albuquerque, NM, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, 87108-5153

Cleveland

Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44106-1702

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * Veteran eligible for VHA care at participating site
  • * two or more suicide attempts in lifetime, with one in past 12 months, on Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS)
  • * current suicidal ideation (endorsing a suicidal ideation scale of at least 1 \[passive ideation\] on C-SSRS
  • * emotion dysregulation (score 95 or greater on DERS)
  • * can attend group sessions
  • * willing to provide contact information for at least one person who can help locate the participant if study staff are unable to contact them (information for three contact persons will be requested; a participant must provide at least one contact person's information to be included in the study)
  • * access to telephone; if insufficient access to videoteleconference and local facility is using remote procedures for study, willing to request access to VA-provided device
  • * significant cognitive impairment (score \< 28 on modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (mTICS)
  • * inability to read English or communicate in spoken and written English
  • * plan to move away or be unavailable in the next 18 months

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Collaborators and Investigators

VA Office of Research and Development,

Suzanne Decker, PhD, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus, West Haven, CT

Steve Martino, PhD, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus, West Haven, CT

Study Record Dates

2027-02-26