Veterans experiencing housing insecurity face severe health risks. They have high rates of chronic disease, mental health disorders, and substance use. These conditions drive emergency department visits and hospitalizations far above population norms. Homelessness and unstable housing are powerful social determinants of acute care use. Addressing them is essential to improve outcomes and reduce costs.… Read More »
The Veterans Health Administration (VA) has expanded research and education on complementary and integrative health (CIH) programs, focusing on pain, mental health, and chronic illness. CIH programs are a part of “Whole Health,” an approach to support veterans’ health and well-being. A recent Medical Care supplement contains several articles on the effectiveness and implementation of… Read More »
Successfully implementing an intervention within a complex service delivery system requires multiple, inter-related adoption strategies. The Veterans Administration’s (VA) renewed emphasis on Hepatitis C treatment offered a perfect opportunity to study which strategies worked. In this post, I will review those findings. Then, I will discuss the importance of accounting for the complexity of strategy… Read More »
In this post we reflect on the definition of success in a study measuring the value of peer support services administered through the HUD VASH program and discuss client-centered definitions of value. We propose designing and understanding programmatic success goals tailored to unique need categories within veteran participant groups. With stay-at-home orders lifting all across… Read More »