Veterans Engaged in Treatment, Skills, and Transitions for Enhancing Psychiatric Safety (VETSTEPS)

The transition after inpatient psychiatric care is a critical time with increased risk. This brief report evaluates Veterans Engaged in Treatment, Skills, and Transitions for Enhancing Psychiatric Safety (VETSTEPS), a program designed for this critical time.

Three "bridging" strategies were employed: (a) using inpatient-outpatient care collaboration; (b) four phone calls within seven days of discharge; and (c) a 4-week, evidence-based intervention that provided safety planning, coping skills, and triage services for postdischarge needs. Using retrospective data from 219 military veterans, VETSTEPS impact on treatment follow-up rates and veteran readmissions was examined.

Group participation was associated with significantly sooner mental health follow-up access, for both first and second follow-up appointments. Greater group participation was associated with lower rates of 12-month readmission, with more attended sessions associated with fewer readmissions when controlling for length of stay and previous readmissions. Following a hospital-wide strategy to implement VETSTEPS team phone calls, exploratory analyses indicate the facility's mental health care follow-up rate significantly improved from 55% to 79%, with sustained gains above 80% for two years.

Program evaluation data suggest that bridging critical time interventions may improve outcomes for veterans recently discharged from psychiatric hospitalization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).