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Research Topics


Suicide Prevention

Suicide and suicidal ideation can have lasting, harmful effects that impact families and communities. While its causes are complex and determined by multiple factors, the goal of suicide prevention research is to understand and reduce factors that increase risk (i.e. risk factors) and increase factors that promote resilience (i.e. protective factors). VA conducts an array of research into suicide prevention that looks at everything from predictive modeling to substance use disorders to the policy impacts of Veterans’ choice of services.

Each section below is populated by a search of the HSR website. Search results are generated based on the search term "Suicide". Results are updated as new data are available.

VIEW: Citations | Publication Briefs | Studies | HSR Briefs, Reports, Newsletters | Cyberseminars | Videos | Podcasts | Other Resources



Citations

(5 of more than 541 SUICIDE focused publications)



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Publication Briefs

(5 of more than 85 SUICIDE focused publication briefs)


  • Virtual Mental Health Services Reduce Suicide-Related Events Among Veterans
    This study evaluated whether virtual mental health service use affects the risk of individual-level suicide-related events (SREs). Findings showed that a 1% increase in the percentage of virtual mental health visits relative to total visits was associated with a nearly 3% decrease in SREs among Veterans. In this sample, virtual mental health visits comprised 45% of all mental health visits. Findin...
    Date: November 5, 2024
  • Caring Letters Not Associated with Suicide Attempts Following Veterans Crisis Line Contact, But Are Associated with Higher Probability of VA Mental Healthcare Use
    This study examined the effectiveness of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) Caring Letters intervention and determined whether there were differences in outcomes by signatory. Findings showed that Caring Letters were not associated with suicide attempts following VCL contact, but were associated with higher probability of VHA outpatient and inpatient mental healthcare use. There was no association amo...
    Date: April 29, 2024
  • Veterans with Minimal Documentation of Rationale for High-Risk Flag Inactivation Are More Likely to Attempt Suicide
    In this study, researchers reviewed the medical records of a national sample of Veterans with a recent documented suicide attempt who received a high-risk flag for suicide to categorize provider documentation of the rationale and procedures for high-risk flag inactivation, examine patient and facility characteristics associated with flag inactivation documentation type, and study the association b...
    Date: November 2, 2023
  • Veterans with COVID-19 Have Elevated Rates of Suicide Attempt and Other Self-Directed Violence
    In this study, researchers used electronic health record data to examine associations between suicide attempt and other self-directed violence (SDV) and time since COVID-19 infection in VA patients who were infected between March 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, and similar but uninfected VA patients. Findings showed that Veterans infected with COVID-19 had a 41% higher risk of a suicide attempt and 3...
    Date: October 26, 2023
  • Suicides Among Post-9/11 Veterans Surged from 2006–2020, Exacerbated by TBI
    This study examined trends in suicide rates from 2006–2020 for Veterans with and without TBI compared to the U.S. adult population. Findings showed that suicide rates among post-9/11 Veterans increased more than 10-fold from 2006–2020, a significantly greater rate of change than in the U.S. adult population. Veterans with TBI had suicide rates 56% higher than Veterans without TBI and three times h...
    Date: August 28, 2023

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Studies

( 5 of more than 53 SUICIDE focused projects )

Project No.  Title  PI  Funding Start   
SDR 23-066 Randomized Controlled Effectiveness Trial of VA S.A.V.E. Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training for Veterans’ Close Supports Teo , Alan 2024-10-01
SDR 22-148 Incentivizing Lethal Means Safety Among Veterans at Risk for Suicide Khazanov, Gabriela 2024-03-01
SDR 22-185 A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trial of Treatments for Veterans with PTSD at Elevated Acute Risk for Suicide Harned, Melanie 2023-09-01
IIR 21-218 Serving All Who Have Served: Enhancing Suicide-Related Care Quality for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Veterans Chen, Jason 2023-05-01
SDR 21-046 Exposure to Suicide Among Post 9/11 Veterans: Prevalence, Correlates and Treatment Needs Sayer, Nina 2022-07-01

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HSR Briefs, Reports, Newsletters

FORUM (01-03-2024)

HSR&D Research on Suicide Prevention (09-01-2023)

Evidence Compendium - Selective and Indicated Interventions for Suicide Prevention (07-12-2022)

Risk and Protective Factors across Socioecological Levels of Risk for Suicide: An Evidence Map (11-18-2021)

Evidence Map - Risk and Protective Factors Across Socioecological Levels of Risk for Suicide (08-17-2021)

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Cyberseminars

The most recent "Suicide" seminars are displayed.

Date Title Presenter(s)
3/10/2025 Engagement of Caregivers in Research on Lethal Means Safety/Secure Firearm Storage to Prevent Veteran Suicide True, Gala  
2/10/2025 VA Suicide Prevention Tamang, Suzanne  
12/4/2024 Suicide Prevention 2.0 (SP 2.0) Clinical Telehealth Program Walker, Jessica A.  
Stacy, Meaghan  
9/4/2024 Development and Advancement of Predictive Modeling to Support Suicide and Overdose Prevention McCarthy, John  
Kazanis, William  
Trafton, Jodie  
6/5/2024 Identifying Genes and Molecular Pathways Underlying Suicidal Behavior Roussos, Panagiotis (Panos)  

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Videos


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Podcasts


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Other Resources

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