Clinical trials

The goal of this pilot clinical trial is primarily learn if produce boxes improve clinical outcomes among Veterans with kidney disease and food or nutrition insecurity. Secondly, the study will capture Veterans qualitative perspectives, experience, and engagement through semi-structured interviews.

Preliminary evaluation a caregiver cCBT-D protocol, including changes in psychosocial functioning and mental health symptoms as well as perceptions of feasibility, acceptability, and safety.

The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to build the evidence base for SUPERCEDE, a suicide prevention focused intensive case management intervention to increase access, improve care coordination, provide suicide prevention monitoring, and procure a timely response of VA mental health and suicide prevention services among VA-enrolled veterans receiving VA authorized community care. This phase is a hybrid effectiveness Type 1 randomized control trial, which will include 2 arms: the treatment intervention, SUPERCEDE, and the control intervention, present centered therapy. The main questions it aims to answer are:• This RCT will continue to build the evidence base for effectiveness and determine feasibility and acceptability for the previously piloted SUPERCEDE. • This RCT will improve the understanding of implementation of this intervention, both in VA and VA authorized community care organizations in preparation for broader implementation. Researchers will compare SUPERCEDE and present centered therapy to see if SUPERCEDE results in improved functioning and a decrease in suicidal ideation. Participants will be randomized to either SUPERCEDE or present centered therapy (PCT) plus a safety plan if warranted. SUPERCEDE is a suicide prevention case management intervention that combines BCBT-SP, a Crisis Response Plan (CRP), intensive case management to alleviate suicide risk factors, and VA authorized community care coordination. PCT is an active control condition often used in clinical trials of posttraumatic stress disorder. The intervention focuses on the present moment and encouraging the client to find solutions to their problems. In this trial, investigators will mirror the sessions of PCT to SUPERCEDE. Thus, the control group will receive 3 sessions, with an optional 3 additional sessions. Detailed Description For hypothesis 3a: Overall, 100 participants will be randomized to either SUPERCEDE or present centered therapy (PCT) plus a safety plan if warranted. SUPERCEDE is a suicide prevention case management intervention that combines BCBT-SP, a Crisis Response Plan, intensive case management to alleviate suicide risk factors, and VA authorized community care coordination. PCT is an active control condition often used in clinical trials of posttraumatic stress disorder. The intervention focuses on the present moment and encouraging the client to find solutions to their problems. In this trial, investigators will mirror the sessions of PCT to SUPERCEDE. Thus, the control group will receive 3 sessions, with an optional 3 additional sessions. The study therapist is trained in both SUPERCEDE and PCT. Recruitment. Eligible participants will be identified through the VA Rocky Mountain Regional (RMR) Medical Center the VA Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW), flyers and advertisements, or through clinician or community referral. A recruitment letter will be sent to participants identified in the CDW. Investigators will attempt to contact potential participants with a warm call by telephone (up to 3 times) after the letter is sent.

This study plans to learn more about the use of one of two self-guided online cognitive behavioral therapy courses. One is focused on symptoms of depression and one is focused on history of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Sleep disturbance is a common condition following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and impairs recovery and quality of life. While efficacious interventions exist many are not accessible to all patients due to a variety of factors (e.g., rurality, access to providers). Further, many of the available treatments have not been validated for individuals with moderate/severe TBI. The proposed study will evaluate a guided computerized version of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (cCBT-I) against enhanced treatment as usual (ETU) in individuals with moderate/severe TBI.

The VISN 19 MIRECC is involved in research concerned with suicide prevention in high risk populations (e.g., history of traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder); Recruitment for future studies will continue with a similar focus. The aim of this protocol is for the VISN 19 MIRECC Research Database (V19-MRD), to have a data repository of participants for possible recruitment from other studies being conducted at the VISN 19 MIRECC. The VISN 19 MIRECC conducts numerous research projects under the review of COMIRB and the VA R\&D.

Background: A quarter of US Veterans reside in rural communities and are significantly older than their urban counterparts. Providing timely access to care is especially important in this older, independent and medically complex cohort. Virtual care, by phone or video, has improved access to care in non-surgical specialties; however, its utilization in surgery is less than 10% and has continued to decline after the COVID pandemic. Recent studies in surgical patients have demonstrated no difference in missed adverse events, emergency department visits or readmissions; but these data are limited to routine, low-risk procedures in large, urban centers. Routine telehealth for low and high-complexity surgery could be of particular benefit to rural patients by reducing travel challenges, costs, improving scheduling flexibility and reinforcing independence. The hypothesis is that routine telehealth follow-up for elective surgical procedures, of all complexity, will provide equivalent outcomes and improved patient satisfaction and access in comparison to face-to-face follow-up. Significance: VA Integrated Service Network (VISN) 19 is the largest geographic region in the VA system and includes four intermediate/complex VA Medical Centers (VAMC) serving rural and urban patients across 10 states. Almost 4000 unique patients are seen annually at these 4 centers resulting in 2600 operations and over 16,000 patient encounters. Another 2500 unique patients are referred to community care (CC) at a cost of over $5 million in FY23. Improving access through telehealth in this largely rural VISN will positively impact Veterans and reduce community care expenditures in addition to improving patient and provider satisfaction. Innovation \& Impact: There are currently no funded or published randomized trials evaluating the efficacy of telehealth in providing postoperative surgical care to rural patients. The proposal will provide robust, Level 1 data confirming the safety of postoperative telehealth care. In addition, the investigators will provide the only evaluation of both the patient and provider experience in rural, surgical telehealth care. They will leverage the largest geographic region, VISN19, to ensure broad applicability of findings to rural and urban Veterans. Specific Aims: Aim 1: Evaluate the safety of postoperative telehealth in rural and urban Veterans. Aim 2: Evaluate the usability and patient satisfaction of telehealth in comparison to in-person postoperative follow-up. Aim 3: Evaluate the usability and provider satisfaction of telehealth in comparison to in-person follow-up. Methodology: Patients undergoing elective general surgical procedures (both inpatient and outpatient) at four VA medical centers (Denver, CO; Oklahoma City, OK; Muskogee, OK; Salt Lake City, UT) in VISN 19 will be randomized to post-operative follow-up in person or via telehealth. Patients who discharge with drains or wound vacuum therapy, permanent suture or staples will be excluded. Aim 1: 30-day morbidity, missed adverse events (complications that may have been recognized with in-person follow-up), 30-day mortality, 30-day readmission, and 30-day ED visits will be compared evaluated to determine safety of telehealth follow-up. Aim 2: Post-operative surveys at 6 weeks after surgery will quantify acceptability of telehealth follow-up via the standardized Telehealth Usability Questionnaire; satisfaction and usability will be compared via the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery survey (S-CAHPS) between the groups. Patients will also be characterized by baseline demographics, distance to nearest facility, socioeconomic vulnerability and procedure type to further define optimal cohorts for future telehealth participation and implementation. Aim 3: Usability and satisfaction for Providers will be determined by self-developed survey. Bi-monthly responses will be recorded to define trends and optimize future implementation. Next Steps/Implementation: If safe and acceptable to patients and providers, standardization for telehealth follow-up after surgery can be implemented nation-wide to improve access to care and satisfaction.

This research is intended to be a pilot study to identify differences in outcomes for varied lifting and physical activity precautions following surgical repair of single-sided inguinal hernias. The researchers hypothesize that when given the autonomy to return to activity at the patient's discretion, convalescence will decrease in comparison to a control group given specific precautions to refrain from lifting and strenuous activity. Specific aims include differences in convalescence and surgical outcomes for each group, i.e. rates of complications, hernia recurrence, physical activity assessments pre and postop, and quality of life outcomes.