Suicide Prevention

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.

Citations

(5 of more than 562 SUICIDE focused publications)

Dent, Cooper, McCarthy. The REACH VET Program and Mortality Outcomes Among Veterans at High Risk of Suicide. JAMA Network Open. 2025 Jul 1; 8(7):e2519513, DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.19513.
Kearns JC, Polizzi CP, Naganuma-Carreras J, Bourassa KJ, Halverson TF, Perskaudas R, Kimbrel NA, Interian A, Bossarte RM, DeBeer BB, Constans JI, Dichter ME, Dobscha SK, Goodman M, Ilgen M, Owen RR, Marx BP. 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 Jun 9; 120:102614, DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2025.102614.
Hargrave, Cohen, Gibson, Keyhani, Li, Boscardin, Byers. Sexual Trauma, Suicide, and Overdose in a National Cohort of Older Veterans. Annals of internal medicine. 2025 Jun 1; 178(6):775-787, DOI: 10.7326/ANNALS-24-01145.
Blosnich JR, DeRussy A, Richman JS, Dichter ME, True G, Montgomery AE. Association Between Use of Services To Address Adverse Social Determinants of Health and Documented Suicide Attempt Among Patients in the Veterans Health Administration. Journal of community health. 2025 Apr 1 DOI: 10.1007/s10900-025-01467-5.
Mackowiak C, Eagan AE, Gerstel-Santucci CM, Barnes KM, Brubaker CE, Fredritz KL, Rasnake LE, Landes SJ, Kearney LK, Miller MA. Expanding veteran suicide prevention: The role of community engagement and partnership coordinators. Psychological Services. 2025 Mar 20 DOI: 10.1037/ser0000944.

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Publication Briefs

(5 of more than 87 SUICIDE focused publication briefs)

Younger Veterans with Mental Health Conditions, and Older Veterans with Physical Health Conditions, at High Risk of Suicide Attempt or Self-Directed Violence After COVID-19 Infection
In this study, researchers used the electronic health records of Veterans with a first case of COVID-19 infection between May 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022, to identify subgroups of Veterans with high risk of post-COVID-19 suicide attempts or other self-directed violence (SDV). Findings showed that within 12 months after infection, 2,106 Veterans had suicide attempts or other SDV events (74 per 10,0...
Date: March 4, 2025
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
VA’s Telehealth Program for Bipolar Disorders Is Associated with Improved Symptoms, Suicide Risk, Quality of Life, and Prescription Quality
This study examined VA clinical, administrative, and survey data to evaluate outcomes (including symptoms, mood episodes, positive suicide screens, and mental health-related quality of life) for Veterans who were referred to the Bipolar Disorders Telehealth (BDTH) program from 2011 to 2021. Findings showed that Veterans who completed the program reported reductions in manic and depressive symptoms...
Date: October 18, 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

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Studies

( 5 of more than 8 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

Rural Veterans’ Thoughts on High Suicide Rates in Their Communities—and on What to Do About It (07-01-2025)

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)

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Cyberseminars The most recent "Suicide" seminars are displayed.
Date	Title	Presenter(s)
8/11/2025	New modeling approach improves suicide risk identification in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: REACHVET 2.0	Kazanis, William Trafton, Jodie
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)
3/12/2024	Suicide Mortality in Vietnam War-Era Veterans: 41 Years of Follow Up	Schneiderman, Aaron Weitlauf, Julie
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Suicide Prevention

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