Veteran Engagement in Health Services Research: a Conceptual Model

Abstract

With 20 million living veterans and millions more immediate family members, and approximately 9 million veterans enrolled in the nationally networked VA healthcare system, representing the interests and needs of veterans in this complex community is a substantial endeavor. Based on the importance of engaging Veterans in research, the VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Service convened a Working Group of VA researchers and Veterans to conduct a review of patient engagement models and develop recommendations for an approach to engage Veterans in health research that would incorporate their unique lived experiences and interests, and their perspectives on research priorities. The Working Group considered the specific context for Veteran engagement in research that includes other VA stakeholders from the operational and clinical leadership of the VA Health Administration (VHA). The resulting model identifies the range of potential stakeholders and three domains of relevant constructs—processes expected to facilitate Veteran engagement in research with other stakeholders, individual stakeholder and external factors, and outcomes. The expectation is that Veteran engagement will benefit research to policy and practice translation, including increasing the transparency of research and producing knowledge that is readily accepted and implemented in healthcare.

Towards a framework for patient-centred care coordination: a scoping review protocol

“…Further, the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) prioritises patient engagement in health services research, and provides financial and other structured opportunities to support Veteran engagement. [37][38][39] We will use the Veteran Stakeholder Council available at our VA research centre-the Centre for Healthcare Organisation and Implementation Research (CHOIR)-for feedback both on our proposed conceptual framework for patient-centred care coordination and dissemination plan. The Veteran Stakeholder Council meets regularly to provide ad hoc feedback on research projects across the centre.…”

INviting Veterans InTo Enrollment in Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (INVITE‐ADRC): An NIA and VA–sponsored initiative to increase veteran participation in aging and dementia research

“…In fact, veterans have been actively engaging in research; for example, veterans readily signed up for research opportunities during the COVID‐19 pandemic by joining a research registry for clinical studies 32 . Throughout the years, strategies to support veteran recruitment have been identified, including engaging veterans in the design and conduct of research studies in a community‐engaged research model, 33 prioritizing greater transparency during study recruitment to build trust, involving VA health‐care providers, including VA settings for the research environment, and tailoring social media and outreach activities to the interest and values of veterans 34 . For veterans from underrepresented groups, here defined as veterans from historically minoritized racial and ethnic groups, 35 strategies derived from aspects from both community‐engaged research and from community‐based participatory research (CBPR) models, which emphasize creating trust and building relationships as well as involving the population of interest in the research design prior to research recruitment, 33 are increasingly recognized as critical to increase diversity in research participation.…”

Foreword to the Second Volume of the Special Issue on Veteran Community Engagement

“…As we put the initial volume together, we encountered several groups trying to make their own sense of this space. Since the publication of that volume, a number of others have described work in their own contexts, showing a wide variety of ways in which veteran community engagement can be conceptualized and practiced (see, for example, Chavez et al, 2022; Fehling et al, 2023; Knight et al, 2022; Wendleton et al, 2023)—ranging from traditional Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) strategies to more focal Community Engagement in Research (CEnR) approaches (Michener et al, 2012). These efforts have broadened our understanding and the conversation about the breadth and depth of Veteran Community Engagement as a nascent subdiscipline spanning community engagement (Ahmed et al, 2017), veteran studies (Grohowski, 2016), and health services research (Morgan et al, 2005).…”