Veterans’ Experiences with a Social Need Intervention

Journal of General Internal Medicine · 2026-04-14

Women's Perspectives on the Influence of Intimate Partner Violence on Substance Use Disorder Recovery and Associated Service Needs

Women s Health Issues · 2025-11-10

Characterization of Veterans Who Contact the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans

Journal of Public Health Management and Practice · 2025-11-25 · 1 citations

ABSTRACT: The National Call Center for Homeless Veterans (NCCHV) is available 24 hours/7 days a week to connect Veterans experiencing homelessness or risk with information, referrals, and linkages to Veterans Affairs (VA) and community-based services. This study describes characteristics of call center contacts (n = 251 668) with Veterans during 2019-2023, including demographics, identified social needs, and contact outcomes. The majority of contacts were made by Veterans themselves (vs third party) and most frequently resulted in NCCHV referring the Veteran to their local VA Medical Center; most Veterans who contacted NCCHV had previously used VA healthcare. This study offers insights into which Veterans may need additional attention to connect to VA care and those who remain at high risk of housing instability after connecting with VA. Future work should assess how Veterans are linked with care, with the goal of improving the response to Veterans' needs and guide strategies to prevent homelessness.

Medical-Legal Partnerships for women in the United States: a systematic review protocol

Systematic Reviews · 2025-10-24

BACKGROUND: MLPs offer a promising approach to addressing needs related to adverse social determinants of health through the provision of legal services in clinical healthcare settings. Evidence to support the MLP model is in early stages. Little is known about the gendered impacts of the MLP model or how they might be tailored for women. The objectives of this systematic review are to (1) compare the impacts of Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLPs) by gender, and (2) identify tailored approaches adopted by MLPs to assist women. METHODS: This protocol conforms to the PRISMA-P (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-Protocol) Statement. MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, Web of Science, Scopus, NBER, LexisUni, HeinOnline, and the National Center for Medical Legal Partnerships web site will be searched for English-language manuscripts published after 1993 (the year attributed to the first MLP). For Objective 1, we will apply the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparators, Outcomes) Framework to determine eligibility, focusing on peer-reviewed articles that describe MLPs in the U.S. (Intervention) that serve women (Population) and present evidence on MLP's interpersonal-, institutional-, community-, and policy-level impacts (Outcomes) by gender (Comparators). To evaluate bias in Objective 1 articles, we will use the Risk-of-Bias 2 tool for randomized controlled trials and the Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions for non-randomized studies. For Objective 2, we will apply the PICo (Population, phenomena of Interest, Context) framework, including peer-reviewed and gray literature that describes tailored approaches (phenomena of Interest) to providing legal support to women or females (Population) in U.S. clinical settings (Context). We will use the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research to assess possible bias for Objective 2 articles. Two reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts, and full texts, meeting regularly to discuss conflicts and establish consensus. Data from selected publications will be extracted and entered in a matrix. Findings will be presented in narrative and tabular forms. DISCUSSION: This review will provide invaluable evidence on the impact of MLPs by gender and will provide insights into future research and interventions on MLPs serving populations of women. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/wd6t5/?view_only=2d6baf14c7b2408293ac31ee5921c8e3.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adolescent reproductive health: Differentiating household and community adversity

Annals of Epidemiology · 2025-07-16

To add to existing knowledge on relationships between Conventionally-identified Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and adolescent reproductive health (ARH) outcomes, we identified contributions of Expanded (community-level) ACEs, integrating measures of ACE co-occurrence and burden. Secondary analysis of 2012–2013 Philadelphia ACEs data from a population-based adult sample. Weighted regressions, adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, tested associations between Conventional and Expanded ACEs (separately and co-occurring) and ACE burden (lowest to highest exposure) with: early sexarche (<15 years), adolescent pregnancy (<19 years), and unintended adolescent pregnancy. Conventional ACEs showed strong dose-response relationships with all outcomes (aOR range: 2.04–4.96, p < 0.05). Expanded ACEs were associated with early sexarche (aOR=2.50; 95 % CI: 1.27, 4.94), adolescent pregnancy (aOR=1.69; 95 % CI: 1.16, 2.46), and unintended adolescent pregnancy (aOR=1.54; 95 % CI: 1.04, 2.29); dose-response patterns were inconsistent. Co-occurring Conventional and Expanded ACEs produced the greatest odds for all outcomes except early sexarche (aOR range: 3.20–14.97, p < 0.05). Conventional and Expanded ACEs are important independently and jointly. ARH outcomes peaked when Conventional and Expanded ACEs co-occurred and both exposures were high. Results suggest that Conventional ACEs may be overestimated when assessed in isolation, highlighting the importance of considering Expanded ACEs to minimize bias and target appropriate interventions. • Our unique approach assesses individual and co-occurring household and community ACEs. • Household- and community-level ACEs are important individually and synergistically. • Outcomes peak when both types of ACEs co-occur and are at their highest levels. • Household ACE effects may be inflated when co-occurring community ACEs are ignored. • Our findings highlight the need to study household and community adversities together.

Subpopulation Differences in Connecting to Resources to Address Social Needs

American Journal of Preventive Medicine · 2025-12-01

Partner Violence and Substance-Related Service Use: Differences by HIV Status Among Women

American Journal of Preventive Medicine · 2025-03-26 · 1 citations

Veterans crisis line use among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander veterans: Contact reasons and risk assessment, by gender.

Psychological Services · 2025-08-04 · 1 citations

Suicide rates have increased substantially among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) veterans, as well as among women veterans. The Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) is a resource available to all veterans as part of the Department of Veterans Affairs' multifaceted suicide prevention strategy. Despite well-documented gender differences in suicide risk and reasons for contacting the VCL, little is known about AANHPI veterans' use of the VCL and whether their reasons for contacting the VCL differ by gender. This descriptive analysis examined the demographics, reasons for contacting the VCL, and suicide risk assessment ratings for AANHPI veterans who contacted the VCL, by gender, as a first step to better understand VCL use in this heterogenous population. Using VCL and Veterans Affairs administrative data, we examined demographics, reasons for contacting the VCL, and suicide risk assessment ratings for 1,645 AANHPI veterans who contacted the VCL in Calendar Year 2020, stratified by gender and disaggregated between Asian American (AA) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) veterans. Mental health was indicated as the most frequent reason for VCL contact for AANHPI women (84.8% of contacts) and men (66.1% of contacts). Suicidal thoughts or crises (34.5% of women, 27.5% of men) were noted as the second most frequent reason for contact across groups, followed by relationship problems (23.7% of women, 21.4% of men). We observed some similar patterns across race/ethnicity and gender subgroups, with some variation between groups. Nearly three quarters (74.6%) of NHPI women endorsed suicide risk screen indicator(s), with lower proportions among AA women (69.1%), AA men (57.8%), and NHPI men (57.3%). Additionally, 12.7% of NHPI women, 9.8% of NHPI men, 8.1% of AA men, and 5.6% of AA women were rated by VCL responders as being at elevated suicide risk. These initial descriptive findings highlight the importance of disaggregating data both by gender and race/ethnicity among AANHPI veterans. Further study of suicide risk and protective factors salient to each subgroup of AANHPI veterans is a critical next step to suicide prevention among these veterans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

A scoping review of psychosocial suicide prevention interventions among adults: Clinical trial factors, predictors, mediators, and moderators in randomized controlled trials

Clinical Psychology Review · 2025-06-09 · 1 citations

Healthcare Clinicians’ Perspectives on Managing Suspected Elder Abuse: “We Don’t Want to Just Swoop in and Do What We Think Is Best”

Innovation in Aging · 2025-01-01 · 3 citations

Background and Objectives: Elder abuse (EA) is common and has significant health impacts. New initiatives seek to capitalize on opportunities to respond to EA from within the healthcare system, but little is known about what clinicians may need to be successful in these efforts. Our objective was to understand perceived barriers and facilitators to managing all phases of EA within an integrated healthcare system from the perspectives of frontline clinicians from a range of different disciplines. Research Design and Methods: Thirty-seven clinicians (10 social workers, 9 physicians, 7 psychologists, 6 nurses, and 5 advanced practice providers) from different clinical sites within 2 large Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical centers participated in semistructured interviews. The interview guide was designed to elicit facilitators and barriers to discrete stages in the process of addressing EA, including detection, reporting, intervention, and monitoring. Transcripts were coded using deductive (based on a prespecified conceptual model) and inductive approaches and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Most (78%) participants were women, ranging in age from 33 to 64 years, and practicing in a variety of settings (e.g., primary care and emergency department) with between 4 and 25 years of VHA experience. We identified 5 interrelated themes that cut across the different stages of EA care: situational context (theme 1), degree of trust in familial and healthcare relationships (theme 2), extent of education and skills (theme 3), and existing system infrastructure (theme 4) all contributed to clinician empowerment and motivation toward action (theme 5). Discussion and Implications: Efforts to enhance skills training, build trusting relationships, and improve system infrastructure could help to equip clinicians to engage in healthcare system interventions to reduce harm from EA.