Understanding suicide: Development and pilot evaluation of a single-session inpatient psychoeducation group

Suicide is a considerable public health concern, particularly among U.S. veterans. Despite inpatient psychiatric hospitalization being a primary recommended treatment for acute suicidality, available inpatient group treatments remain limited. The current quality improvement project (QIP) aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a newly developed single-session suicide-focused psychoeducation for veterans during psychiatric hospitalization. This project was conducted in two phases among veterans hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or behaviors. The first phase (n = 56) aimed to refine the group content and explore feasibility and tolerability of the group. Following content revisions suggested by Phase 1 findings, Phase 2 (n = 78; M_age = 48.11; 87% male) aimed to replicate and extend tolerability findings, as well as assess the acceptability of the group on an inpatient unit and the alignment of group content with the primary group objectives. Veteran acceptability of the group was high, and content was reported to be new and useful by veterans. Minimal changes in distress from before to after the group were identified. Further, after group participation, veterans reported being more hopeful and motivated to learn skills to cope with their suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB). Results support the acceptability and feasibility of the newly developed suicide psychoeducation group among veterans on a psychiatric inpatient unit, highlighting the need for future systematic investigations to determine whether the results extend to other settings and populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).