Consulting After Combat: Interviewing Veterans to Develop a Therapy to Restore Functioning and Reintegration After Moral Injury Events

Description

Despite the VA's best efforts to treat the psychosocial impact of war, many combat Veterans report lingering difficulty reintegrating into meaningful post-deployment lives. War is among the most extreme forms of human experience but, for many, wartime trauma was treated using models transported from civilian single-incident trauma contexts. Veterans have unique needs and experiences that require culturally responsive and sensitive conceptualizations and treatments. Patient-centered care is improved by providing multiple effective treatment options and this project, if successful, could have a significant impact on VA care. This CDA-2 project has the potential to offer innovative treatment for traumatized combat Veterans who otherwise may not find full relief from PTSD. Clinical research practice will be advanced by employing state-of-the-art user-centered design methods combined with expert clinical feedback to develop an effective and usable group treatment manual that will meet VA needs.

Conditions

Moral Injury, Functional Impairment

Study Overview

Study Details

Study overview

Despite the VA's best efforts to treat the psychosocial impact of war, many combat Veterans report lingering difficulty reintegrating into meaningful post-deployment lives. War is among the most extreme forms of human experience but, for many, wartime trauma was treated using models transported from civilian single-incident trauma contexts. Veterans have unique needs and experiences that require culturally responsive and sensitive conceptualizations and treatments. Patient-centered care is improved by providing multiple effective treatment options and this project, if successful, could have a significant impact on VA care. This CDA-2 project has the potential to offer innovative treatment for traumatized combat Veterans who otherwise may not find full relief from PTSD. Clinical research practice will be advanced by employing state-of-the-art user-centered design methods combined with expert clinical feedback to develop an effective and usable group treatment manual that will meet VA needs.

Consulting After Combat: Interviewing Service Members and Veterans to Develop a Therapy to Restore Functioning and Reintegration After Moral Injury Events

Consulting After Combat: Interviewing Veterans to Develop a Therapy to Restore Functioning and Reintegration After Moral Injury Events

Condition
Moral Injury
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

Temple

Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, TX, Temple, Texas, United States, 76504-7451

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

  • * The investigators will recruit 12 potentially morally injurious event (PMIE)-impaired Veterans.
  • * Potential participants include:
  • * male and female
  • * English-speaking Veterans
  • * 18 years of age or older
  • * enrolled in Central Texas Veterans Healthcare System
  • * with a service record of combat deployments
  • * Participants must:
  • * comprehend and sign the informed consent form
  • * if they report a PMIE as their worst trauma
  • * 3 on the MIOS functional impairment item
  • * if they score 10 on the SDS
  • * Veterans will be excluded from the study if they have either:
  • * untreated substance abuse disorder
  • * severe suicidal or homicidal ideation, defined using the C-SSRS
  • * \<18 on the MOCA, indicating potential for more than mild cognitive impairment

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,

Sheila Frankfurt, PhD, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, TX

Study Record Dates

2026-10-30