Effectiveness of Interventions to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening Among American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Introduction: Screening rates for colorectal cancer are low in many American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. Direct mailing of a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kit can address patient and structural barriers to screening. Our objective was to determine if such an evidence-based intervention could increase colorectal cancer screening among AI/AN populations.

A Comparative Analysis of Telephone and In-Person Survey Administration for Public Health Surveillance in Rural American Indian Communities.

Objective: Public health surveillance systems suffer from insufficient inclusion of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. These health surveys have also gravitated to telephone administration because of the rising cost of face-to-face interviewing. Several studies have demonstrated that telephone surveys underrepresent people with low incomes, less educational attainment, and minorities.

Substance Use Disorder Treatment Services for Women in the Veterans Health Administration.

Purpose: The present study used national Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facility-level data to examine the extent of women's specialty substance use disorder (SUD) treatment programming in the VHA. In addition, the study compared facilities with women's specialty SUD programming with facilities without to determine whether having this programming was associated with serving other special patient populations, treatment staffing, and breadth of service provision.

Methods: The study used data from the VHA Program Evaluation and Resource Center's Drug and Alcohol Program Survey, conducted in 2015 (100% response rate among VHA specialty SUD treatment programs).

A Longitudinal Examination of Veterans Treatment Courts' Characteristics and Eligibility Criteria.

Although the number of Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs) has been growing at a rapid rate, thus far, VTC components have not been standardized, due in part to a lack of empirical evidence on the extent to which components vary across VTCs nationwide and change over time. This study analyzed data collected by the Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Justice Program, on VTCs in 2012 ( = 173 Courts), 2013 ( = 266), and 2014 ( = 351), to describe Court characteristics, participant eligibility criteria, and Courts' mentoring component. Despite growth in VTC numbers, the survey found consistency over time in these aspects of VTCs.