Disability
Conditions
Keywords
disability, substance abuse, vocational rehabilitation, case management
Brief summary
To test the hypothesis that veterans counseled around managing their benefits will work more and have a better quality of life than those receiving non-specific counseling.
Detailed description
The aim is to develop and test the efficacy of Benefits Counseling to improve quality of life among veterans who apply for VA benefits. Benefits Counseling involves providing claimants information about rehabilitation and work-related activities, benefits determination and management, and available substance abuse treatment . Benefits Counseling is designed to increase motivation to be active and promote engagement in substance abuse treatment. After enrolling 15 participants in an open-label pilot phase, 300 veterans who are not receiving benefits and are applying to VBA for disability benefits will be randomly assigned to Benefits Counseling or the control condition, VA Orientation, and both groups will be followed for one year. The primary outcome measures will be observer-rated and self-rated quality of life. Secondary outcome measures will include substance use and treatment utilization.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALBenefits Counseling
Help deciding whether to work
BEHAVIORALVA Orientation
Orientation to services available at VA
Sponsors
US Department of Veterans Affairs
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
1. Applying for VA service connection and not currently receiving VBA benefits. 2. Veterans who have been rated 0% service-connected but do not receive financial benefits are eligible to participate. 3. Able to provide valid consent 4. Age 18-65 5. Expresses willingness to discuss benefits with a counselor 6. Anticipates difficulty working
Exclusion criteria
1. Already receiving VA payments 2. Already receiving SSI or SSDI 3. Has a conservator
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Days engaged in work and work-related activities | 6 months |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| substance use (as measured by days having used illicit drugs, alcohol to intoxication in the preceding days) | 6 months |
| treatment utilization (days in last 30 having participated in rehabilitation and work-related activities, number of days having participated in non-inpatient substance abuse treatment, number of days on any inpatient unit) | 6 months |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed