title: Using a service sector segmented approach to identify community stakeholders who can improve access to suicide prevention services for veterans.
abstract: Veterans in need of social services may access many different community agencies within the public and private sectors. Each of these settings has the potential to be a pipeline for attaining needed health, mental health, and benefits services; however, many service providers lack information on how to conceptualize where Veterans go for services within their local community. This article describes a conceptual framework for outreach that uses a service sector segmented approach. This framework was developed to aid recruitment of a provider-based sample of stakeholders (N = 70) for a study on improving access to the Department of Veterans Affairs and community-based suicide prevention services. Results indicate that although there are statistically significant differences in the percent of Veterans served by the different service sectors (F(9, 55) = 2.71, p = 0.04), exposure to suicidal Veterans and providers' referral behavior is consistent across the sectors. Challenges to using this framework include isolating the appropriate sectors for targeted outreach efforts. The service sector segmented approach holds promise for identifying and referring at-risk Veterans in need of services.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs, VA St. Louis Health Care System, Mental Health Service, 915 North Grand Blvd, Saint Louis, MO 63106.
authors.forename: Monica M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Matthieu
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs, VA St. Louis Health Care System, Mental Health Service, 915 North Grand Blvd, Saint Louis, MO 63106.
authors.forename: Giovanina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gardiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs, VA St. Louis Health Care System, Mental Health Service, 915 North Grand Blvd, Saint Louis, MO 63106.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ziegemeier
authors.affiliation: George Warren Brown School of Social Work and Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis, 700 Rosedale Avenue, Campus Box 1009, St. Louis, MO 63112.
authors.forename: Miranda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buxton
mesh_terms: D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012947:Social Work / Q000379:methods*; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D000092864:Suicide Prevention