Veteran suicide death is a national crisis. Risk factors include emotion dysregulation, which occurs across mental health disorders. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based suicide intervention that targets emotion dysregulation but is resource-intensive and not widely available at VHA. A more efficient evidence-based DBT Skills Group (DBT-SG) is associated with reduced suicidal ideation and emotion dysregulation and likely more feasible to implement at VHA. This is a randomized controlled trial to test whether DBT-SG in addition to VHA treatment-as-usual, compared to only VHA treatment-as-usual, reduces Veteran suicide attempt.
A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Multisite Trial of a Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group for Veterans at High-Risk for Suicide Attempt
This is a randomized controlled trial at four VHA medical centers. Veterans will be randomized to VHA treatment-as-usual or VHA treatment-as-usual plus DBT-SG.