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Veteran Perspectives of Barriers and Facilitators to Campaigns Promoting Help Seeking During Crisis
Elizabeth Karras1,2, Nora Arriola3, Janet M McCarten4
1VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Finger Lakes Healthcare System, 400 Fort Hill Ave, Canandaigua, NY, 14424, USA. Elizabeth.Karras-Pilato@va.gov.
Abstract:
The objective of this paper is to characterize barriers and facilitators reported by U.S. military veterans related to campaigns promoting help seeking during suicidal crisis. Individual telephone interviews (N = 40) were conducted from August 2018-April 2019 with a sample of veterans who had a recent non-fatal suicide attempt. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a constant comparison analytic strategy. Participants reported the four facilitators to message effectiveness: (a) potential reach of specific channels; (b) interruption of suicidal thoughts; (c) normalizing the suicidal experience and help seeking; and (d) modeling desired behavior change. Barriers that hindered campaigns were also identified and include (a) broad messages, (b) challenges in cognitive processing, (c) media avoidance and (d) a boomerang effect. This study underscores the significance of involving those with lived experience to identify factors that may improve or hinder message effectiveness.
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