Impact of VVV Group for Veterans With SMI

NCT ID: NCT05562674

Last Updated: 2025-03-26

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 38 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-03-18
• Study Completion Date: 2025-03-01

Brief Summary

Veterans with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) struggle with social integration - participation in work, housing, and citizenship - due to symptoms, stigma, and psychosocial challenges. Despite considerable VA efforts to provide mental health care to Veterans with SMI, programs that promote social integration are lacking. Veterans with SMI are at especially high risk for poor social integration and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project addresses this need with a group-based, peer specialist (PS) co-facilitated psychosocial intervention for Veterans with SMI, called "Veteran Voices and Visions" (VVV). VVV targets Veterans with SMI who experience psychosis, a group particularly in need of support with social integration. Virtual VVV groups are co-led by VA mental health clinicians (MHCs) and PSs via online video conference. The approach facilitates group cohesion around and normalization of the common psychotic symptoms of SMI: hallucinations, delusions, and social isolation. This intervention has the potential to create and foster a supportive community that improves the social integration of participants by reducing their distress and self-stigma, and increasing self-efficacy.

Conditions

Psychotic Disorders; Veterans

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Veteran Voices & Visions (VVV)

This is the experimental condition, testing the manual the investigators have developed.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Support group

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

This is a group-based, peer specialist and clinician co-facilitated psychosocial intervention for Veterans with SMI, called "Veteran Voices and Visions" (VVV). VVV is an adaptation of a community-based support group model called the Hearing Voices (HV) approach. The approach facilitates group cohesion around and normalization of the common psychotic symptoms of SMI: hallucinations, delusions, and social isolation.

Interventions

Support group

This is a group-based, peer specialist and clinician co-facilitated psychosocial intervention for Veterans with SMI, called "Veteran Voices and Visions" (VVV). VVV is an adaptation of a community-based support group model called the Hearing Voices (HV) approach. The approach facilitates group cohesion around and normalization of the common psychotic symptoms of SMI: hallucinations, delusions, and social isolation.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• DSM 5 diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar with psychosis, depression with psychosis, unspecified psychosis

Exclusion Criteria

• Substance-induced psychosis,
• clinically significant neurological disease,
• history of serious head injury with loss of consciousness > 1 hour.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

VA Office of Research and Development

FED

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Ippolytos A Kalofonos, MD PhD MPH

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, West Los Angeles, CA

Locations

VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, West Los Angeles, CA

West Los Angeles, California, United States

Countries

United States

Provided Documents

Document Type: Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

D4376-P

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id