CALL FOR PAPERS:
Supplement Issue of Medical Care

Advancing Knowledge of Suicide Risk
and Prevention among Adult Women

Submission Deadline: February 29th, 2020

The Editors of Medical Care, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D), and the VA Women’s Health Research Network (WHRN) invite manuscripts reporting original findings from research addressing suicide risk, resilience, surveillance, and prevention among adult women. Suicide risk has increased markedly in recent years among women in the U.S., with increases particularly salient among women Veterans. As such, this supplement aims to disseminate knowledge relevant to improving both clinical and public health-oriented suicide prevention strategies and research among women, with a special interest in women Veterans and active duty servicewomen.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Risk and protective factors for suicidal self-directed violence (S-SDV) among adult women
• Prevention and treatment of S-SDV and associated risk among adult women
• Studies investigating lethal means use and lethal means safety among adult women
• Implementation of women-specific or gender-sensitive prevention programs or treatments addressing suicide risk or resilience among adult women
• Experiences and challenges to: (1) studying suicide among adult women (e.g., recruitment and retention, sensitive topics); or (2) implementation of evidence-based practices across health systems
• Rates and characteristics of S-SDV, especially among understudied subsets of adult women (e.g., sexual and gender minorities, women Veterans and military service members, etc.)
• Research related to the topics above comparing women Veterans, active duty service members, and civilians
• Research related to the topics above that examine similarities and differences between men and women

Manuscripts must be submitted online to Medical Care. Please choose the article type “Women and Suicide Supplement,” and indicate in your cover letter that you are submitting a manuscript for consideration in this supplement. This supplement is expected to contain between 10-14 original articles. Both brief reports (2,000 words) and full manuscripts (3,500 words) will be considered. Author guidelines for Medical Care should be followed and are available here.

Additionally, authors are asked to specify how sex or/or gender was assessed (e.g., self-report, medical record data) and use the self-directed violence classification system (SDVCS) nomenclature.

Suggested guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Details of the SDVCS nomenclature can be found here.

All submissions will be peer-reviewed to assess for scientific rigor and alignment with the scope and aims of this supplement.

Planning Committee

Please direct questions about manuscript suitability to Dr. Hoffmire & Dr. Denneson

Claire A. Hoffmire, PhD
VA Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention, VA Eastern Colorado Healthcare System
Department of Physical MEdicine and Rehabilitation, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Claire.Hoffmire@va.gov

Lauren M. Denneson, PhD
VA HSR&D Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care
VA Portland Healthcare System
Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University
Lauren.Denneson.va.gov

Elizabeth M. Yano, PhD, MSPH
VA HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
Department of Health Policy & Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Elizabeth.Yano@va.gov