Providing Mental Health Services to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Veterans
Condition: Mental Health Services
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to gather information from VISN 19 Denver VA mental health
      professionals regarding their perspectives of necessary resources to provide best practice
      mental health service to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/ Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)
      Veterans. Specifically, this study aims to describe provider perspectives regarding the
      following: a) clinical needs of OIF/OEF Veterans; b) collaboration and referral processes; c)
      barriers to providing optimal treatment to this cohort d) provider needs and resources that
      may improve service delivery to this cohort; e) provider perspectives regarding psychiatric
      outcomes in this cohort; and f) professional satisfaction. Support for this study is provided
      by previous research evaluating Veteran's Administration (VA) needs to provide service to
      OIF/OEF Veterans (Sayer, et al. 2009; Friedmann-Sanchez, et al. 2008).

      The above information will be obtained using semi-structured interview. Hypotheses are not
      provided as this is an exploratory qualitative study.
    

Detailed description: 
      No hypotheses are associated with this study as this is a qualitative study wherein subjects
      will participate in a semi-structured interview developed specifically for this study, which
      serves as the outcome measure. Up to 30 providers will be interviewed.

      Data Analysis Interviews will be transcribed in their entirety and de-identified. Dr.
      Signoracci and 4 additional MRIECC researchers will independently code each interview for
      themes. Finally, group meetings with Dr. Signoracci and MIRECC researchers will be held in
      order to achieve larger consensus regarding such unique and universal themes (Rubin & Rubin,
      1995).

      Any reporting of information regarding: a) length of time employed at Denver VA; b) length of
      time employed within VA system; c) provider professional title; d) provider degree; f)
      professional licenses held; g) clinic/service in which provide services will be done in the
      aggregate, across clinics. No individual data will be reported with respect to these items.
      Also, any selected quotes that are reported will remain de-identified.

      Power analyses will not be conducted because no hypothesis quantitative testing is being
      done, and therefore there are no parameters to estimate. With qualitative designs one
      conducts interviews until reaching the saturation point. In other words, subsequent
      interviews do not yield any new information (Rubin & Rubin, 1995). Previous experience
      (Brenner et al., 2008) suggests that 25 completed interviews should provide a wide enough
      range of responses for important themes to emerge.
    

Intervention name(s): No Intervention
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): No Intervention
Observational model: Cohort
Time perspective: Retrospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Denver VA Mental Health Providers Up to 30 providers will be interviewed.
      
Keywords: Provider Perspectives; Barriers; OIF/OEF Veterans