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Vets First PodcastThe Vets First podcast is a research-based podcast that focuses on the VA healthcare system and its patients. Author: Department of Veterans Affairs
The Vets First podcast is a research-based podcast that focuses on the VA healthcare system and its patients. Instead of being just another research podcast, the Vets First podcast was created with a primary focus on the Veterans and their stories. The hosts, Levi Sowers PhD, and Brandon Rea work to bridge the gap between the state-of-the-art research being performed at Veterans Affairs and the Veterans themselves in an easy-to-understand manner. Importantly, Levi and Brandon want to assist researchers around the country to better understand the needs of Veterans. In this podcast you will hear interviews from Veterans with specific conditions and then hear from VA funded researchers who are studying those very topics as well as other highlighted services the VA provides. The Department of Veterans Affairs does not endorse or officially sanction any entities that may be discussed in this podcast, nor any media, products or services they may provide. Language: en Genres: Government, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Season 4 episode 3: How to talk about suicide in Veterans. An interview with Jennifer Van Tiem and Nicole Johnson
Wednesday, 13 November, 2024
Content warning: This episode contains conversations on self-harm. In this episode of the Vets First Podcast, Levi Sowers is joined by guest-turned-cohost, Louis Kolling. If you’re interested in learning more about Louis Kolling’s story, listen to Season 4: Episode 2 to hear about his journey from army veteran to molecular biophysicist. Now join the two as they speak with Jennifer Van Tiem and Nicole Johnson who dive into their qualitative research on how to discuss suicide with veterans. Nicole is a senior quantitative research specialist at the VA with the Office of Rural Health with a PhD in health communication from Indiana University. Jen Van Tiem is a PhD in applied anthropology from Columbia University and a principal investigator on a project aimed at providing practitioners with better tools for communicating with veterans.Together, the pair explain how tools like theirs are designed to bridge the gap in communicating with veterans and specifically in regards to approaching the conversation of suicide. While no one tool can have all of the answers or say the perfect thing, their “conversation tool” guides practitioners towards desirable outcomes during difficult conversations.There is also a focus on the rise of qualitative research and how it is used in a research setting to add context to the statistics of quantitative research. Despite the differences in their research practices, every one agrees that each form of research can be used to provide background, inform, and further the other.Finally Louis speaks to his experiences speaking with other veterans about mental health and the difficulty in broaching that subject with health care providers out of fear. Louis focuses on a veteran’s fear of being labeled and forced into an unknown processes that may further strip them of their rights. The focus shifts to how dispelling the myths and stigma around mental health hospitalization could improve outcomes in these conversations.
