Testing a Peer-Support Group for Veterans Who Hear Voices

Part of paid clinical trials in West Los Angeles, California.

Sponsor
VA Office of Research and Development
Study ID
NCT07555275
Status
Not Yet Recruiting

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Conditions

  • Hallucinations, Auditory
  • Psychotic Disorders
  • Social Isolation

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Veteran Voices and Visions (VVV) — BEHAVIORAL
    This is a group-based, peer specialist and clinician co-facilitated psychosocial intervention for Veterans with SMI, called "Veteran Voices and Visions" (VVV). VVV is an adaptation of a community-based support group model called the Hearing Voices (HV) approach. The approach facilitates group cohesion around and normalization of the common psychotic symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, and social isolation.
  • Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP) — BEHAVIORAL
    Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP) is a peer-led, structured self-management and recovery program designed for serious mental illness delivered in weekly group sessions for 8-12 weeks. It covers personalized wellness strategies, identification of warning signs for re-lapse, and crisis plans. It has improved overall distress due to psychiatric symptoms, quality of life, and hope. A systemic review and meta-analysis concluded WRAP reliably improves subjective recovery outcomes but not symptoms. WRAP is not tailored to psychosis.

Study Details

Veterans with schizophrenia spectrum disorders who experience psychosis struggle with social integration- e.g., participation in work, housing, and citizenship-due to symptoms, stigma, and psychosocial functioning deficits. Veteran Voices and Visions (VVV) is a psychosocial, peer-led group intervention for Veterans with psychosis based that reduces distress related to psychosis and fosters a sense of belonging for Veterans living with psychosis. VVV destigmatizes psychosis; reframes symptoms; and introduces personalized, meaningful coping strategies enabling social interaction. The investigators will assess VVV's efficacy in a trial comparing recipients of VVV to another peer-led group, Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP), on outcomes of distress from psychosis, sense of belonging, and social functioning while identifying contextual factors regarding implementation at two sites. The investigators hypothesize that proximal reduction in distress and increased sense of belonging results in improvements in social functioning.

Key Dates

Start date
Apr 1, 2027
Status verified
Apr 2026
Primary completion
Mar 29, 2030
Completion
Sep 30, 2030

Study Design

Enrollment
160 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT

Arms

  • Experimental: Veteran Voices and Visions (VVV)
    This is a group-based, peer specialist and clinician co-facilitated psychosocial intervention for Veterans with serious mental illness (SMI), called "Veteran Voices and Visions" (VVV). VVV is an adaptation of a community-based support group model called the Hearing Voices (HV) approach. The approach facilitates group cohesion around and normalization of the common psychotic symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, and social isolation.
  • Active Comparator: Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP)
    Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP) is a peer-led, structured self-management and recovery program designed for serious mental illness delivered in weekly group sessions for 8-12 weeks. It covers personalized wellness strategies, identification of warning signs for re-lapse, and crisis plans. It has improved overall distress due to psychiatric symptoms, quality of life, and hope. A systemic review and meta-analysis concluded WRAP reliably improves subjective recovery outcomes but not symptoms. WRAP is not tailored to psychosis.

Primary Outcome Measure

Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale for Auditory Hallucinations (PSYRATS-AH) [ Time Frame: 12 and 24 weeks ]

Central Contacts

Locations (2)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, West Los Angeles, CAWest Los AngelesCalifornia90073-1003
Ippolytos A Kalofonos, MD PhD MPH
[email protected]
310-478-3711
Ippolytos A Kalofonos, MD PhD MPH (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System University Drive Division, Pittsburgh, PAPittsburghPennsylvania15240
Matthew Chinman, PhD
[email protected]
412-683-2300

Find similar trials in West Los Angeles, CA

By research site
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, West Los Angeles, CA· West Los Angeles, CAVA Pittsburgh Healthcare System University Drive Division, Pittsburgh, PA· Pittsburgh, PA

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