Gender differences in veterans' use of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL): Findings from VCL call data.

Objective: To compare characteristics of calls to the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) by caller gender and identify potentially unique needs of women callers.

Method: Retrospective review of clinical data collected during VCL calls, comparing call characteristics between women and men veteran callers.

Results: The data included 116,029 calls by women veterans and 651,239 calls by men veterans between January 1, 2018-December 31, 2019.

"Stories of starting": Understanding the complex contexts of opioid misuse initiation.

The impacts of opioid use disorder and opioid-involved overdose are known, but less is known about the contexts in which people first misuse opioids, and the motivations for continued misuse. In-depth interviews with 26 individuals in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania with current or past histories of opioid misuse were conducted. Narratives were analyzed to understand the circumstances and influences contributing to initial and continued misuse of opioids.