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NIH grant 1IK2RD001575-01A1: Rapid Personalization of Safety Plans for Psychiatrically Hospitalized Veterans atHigh-Risk for Suicide
Institute: {'code': 'VA', 'abbreviation': 'VA', 'name': 'Veterans Affairs', 'admin_org_id': '12500964', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: Jaclyn Kearns. Award: $.
Start: 2026-10-01T00:00:00.
Veterans hospitalized in VA inpatient psychiatry units are eight times more likely to die by
suicide than all Veterans who use VA services, with the highest risk in the first three months
post-discharge. Safety Planning is therefore a required component of discharge planning for
hospitalized Veterans. While most Veterans receive a safety plan (SP), many SPs are of poor
quality. Lack of personalization, which is common, can significantly reduce SP effectiveness.
Clinicians need adequate training to personalize SPs and Veterans prefer a personalized
intervention that identifies their specific suicide warning signs and adaptive coping skills.
Despite its widespread use with Veterans at the greatest risk for suicide death, improvements in
the application of SPs are critically needed. To facilitate SP personalization and its effective use
following discharge, the proposed intervention, Personalized Safety Plans (PSP), will be
developed for rapid delivery on acute inpatient psychiatry and change how SPs are created.
PSP is a single-session intervention followed by twice monthly brief, personalized coaching
sessions delivered during the three-month high-risk discharge period. We will iteratively refine
PSP in a case series (N = 15) and then, consistent with a hybrid I effectiveness-implementation
design, we will evaluate the finalized PSP in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT; N = 96)
comparing PSP to SP as Usual (i.e., standard SP practice with typical administration) among
psychiatrically hospitalized Veterans. All participants will complete baseline, post-treatment, and
assessments at 1, 3, and 6 months following discharge. The primary goal of the project is to
determine PSP’s preliminary effectiveness and the secondary goal of the project is to
understand the context for PSP’s implementation with feedback from Veterans, clinicians, and
stakeholders. The study will provide a foundation for a larger RCT proposal through the
following research aims: 1) iteratively refine PSP, guided by Veteran, clinician, and stakeholder
feedback; 2) examine the preliminary effectiveness of PSP in reducing suicide ideation,
increasing adaptive suicide-related coping, and increasing SP personalization compared to SP
as Usual; 3) identify barriers and facilitators to PSP’s implementation that will need to be
addressed in future research and implementation efforts; and 4) develop a fidelity measure to
facilitate future intervention quality monitoring and support. The candidate is a postdoctoral
fellow in the Behavioral Science Division of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder at the Boston VA. The candidate’s associated training aims include: 1) obtain expertise
in treatment adaption and in safely conducting RCTs with psychiatrically hospitalized veterans;
2) gain analytic skills to evaluate RCTs; 3) obtain clinical expertise in treating suicidal Veterans;
4) acquire the fundamentals of implementation science and theory to adapt/develop
implementable interventions; and 5) engage in professional development to facilitate the
transition to an independently funded VA investigator. The research and training will take place
at the VA Boston with a collaborative and expert mentorship team that includes Drs. Brian Marx
(co-primary mentor), Peter Britton (co-primary mentor), Gregory Brown (mentor), Shannon
Wiltsey Stirman (mentor), and Matthew Gallagher (mentor). The proposed study and training—
guided by expert mentorship—directly align with the candidate’s ultimate career goal of
becoming a clinical trialist who adapts/develops and tests personalized treatments that can be
implemented across VA to reduce Veteran suicide.document fetched 2026-10-24 02:46