Elizabeth Karras1,2, Naiji Lu3, Heather Elder1,4, Xin Tu2,3, Caitlin Thompson5, Wendy Tenhula6, Sonja V Batten6,7, Robert M Bossarte1,5,8,9. 1. 1 VISN 2 Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Department of Veterans Affairs, Canandaigua VA Medical Center, Canandaigua, NY, USA. 2. 2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester, NY, USA. 3. 3 Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester, NY, USA. 4. 4 Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester, NY, USA. 5. 5 Suicide Prevention Office, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC, USA. 6. 6 Mental Health Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC, USA. 7. 7 Booz Allen Hamilton, Washington, DC, USA. 8. 8 Injury Control Research Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA. 9. 9 Department of Behavioral Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Few studies have considered different messaging strategies that may augment campaign efficacy to generate help-seeking behaviors among populations at increased risk for suicide, mainly US military veterans. AIMS: Findings are presented from the pilot evaluation of the It's Your Call campaign implemented by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Three messaging strategies (with varying intensity and mix of messages) were compared to explore which best promote use of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) among veteran populations. METHOD: Daily VCL call data were obtained for 10 US cities during 2011-2012 where the campaign was active, and modeled using Poisson regression to identify changes in utilization patterns associated with the implementation of different messaging strategies. RESULTS: Significant increases in call rates were only evident during the campaign in communities where mixed messages were disseminated. Further, use of mixed messages yielded greater increases in call rates when compared with the other tested strategies. This was an observational study where identification of causal relationships between variables was limited. CONCLUSION: Findings are encouraging as messaging was associated with help seeking, and they provide insights into strategies that may rapidly promote crisis line use. Results also underscore the need for further research on suicide prevention campaigns and dissemination practices.
BACKGROUND: Few studies have considered different messaging strategies that may augment campaign efficacy to generate help-seeking behaviors among populations at increased risk for suicide, mainly US military veterans. AIMS: Findings are presented from the pilot evaluation of the It's Your Call campaign implemented by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Three messaging strategies (with varying intensity and mix of messages) were compared to explore which best promote use of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) among veteran populations. METHOD: Daily VCL call data were obtained for 10 US cities during 2011-2012 where the campaign was active, and modeled using Poisson regression to identify changes in utilization patterns associated with the implementation of different messaging strategies. RESULTS: Significant increases in call rates were only evident during the campaign in communities where mixed messages were disseminated. Further, use of mixed messages yielded greater increases in call rates when compared with the other tested strategies. This was an observational study where identification of causal relationships between variables was limited. CONCLUSION: Findings are encouraging as messaging was associated with help seeking, and they provide insights into strategies that may rapidly promote crisis line use. Results also underscore the need for further research on suicide prevention campaigns and dissemination practices.
Keywords:
campaigns; crisis line; military; public messaging; veterans
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