Researchers at Syracuse VA Medical Center and SU to Collaborate
Syracuse, NY- The National Institutes of Health recently announced that it will fund Dr. Kyle Possemato at the Center for Integrated Healthcare at the Syracuse VA Medical Center to conduct a study that will adapt and test the effectiveness of a brief mindfulness training for Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This study is a collaborative effort with Dr. Dessa Bergen-Cico at Syracuse University and Dr. Wil Pigeon at the VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention. The study begins in January 2018 and will be complete in December 2020.
This project will first teach VA mental health providers and peer support specialists to co-deliver the brief mindfulness training to Veterans and gather feedback from the providers and peers on any modifications needed to optimize the intervention. Next, the trained providers and peers will deliver the mindfulness training to veterans with PTSD as part of a multi-site randomized clinical trial. To accommodate the study, one of the large labs in the research wing of the Medical Center will be converted to a meditation and yoga studio by early 2019.
Veterans from the Syracuse and Canandaigua VA primary care clinics will be recruited to the study. “Primary care patients with PTSD are often hesitant to engage in traditional mental health services, but some are willing to participate in a mindfulness training class. In an earlier pilot study we have found that the mindfulness training improved PTSD symptoms and made veterans more willing to engage in traditional PTSD psychotherapies” said Dr. Possemato.
For more information on this study or the Center for Integrated Healthcare at the Syracuse VA Medical Center, visit https://www.mirecc.va.gov/cih-visn2.
