TXST awarded funding for a project to elevate veteran voices and address the hidden wounds of service and transition to civilian life
TXST researchers are leading a veteran-focused health project that combines expertise in social work, respiratory care and community-engaged research with personal ties to the veteran community.
The Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award Program has approved funding for Texas State University to launch Building Resilience and Advancing Veteran Engagement (BRAVE) Groups Across Texas, a new initiative that will bring veterans, their families and researchers together to better understand and address the lasting impacts of moral injury.
The project will support veterans and their Caring Circles—the family members, friends and others who support them—in a state that is home to one of the nation's largest veteran populations.
Moral injury can occur when someone experiences, witnesses or struggles with events that conflict with deeply held values and beliefs. For veterans and their families, these experiences can contribute to feelings of guilt, shame, betrayal or loss of trust while making it difficult to reconnect with loved ones, communities and a sense of purpose.
In partnership with TXST’s Translational Health Research Center (THRC), the project is led by Kelly Clary, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Social Work and THRC Faculty Fellow; Katherine Selber, Ph.D., professor in the School of Social Work; and Nate Rodrigues, MSIS, RCP, RRT, RRT-NPS, RRT-SDS, associate professor in the Department of Respiratory Care. Drawing on expertise in veteran health, social work and community-engaged research, the team also brings personal connections to the veteran community, including Rodrigues’ experience as a military veteran and Clary’s and Selber’s experiences as veteran family members.
“Veterans and Caring Circles are not participants in our research; they are our partners and co-creators of knowledge. By working alongside veterans to elevate their voices and lived experiences, we can deepen our understanding of moral injury, bridge the gap between communities and academia, and co-develop meaningful pathways for connection, healing and support.”
Kelly Clary, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and THRC Faculty Fellow
To ensure veterans and their families play a meaningful role in shaping the project, BRAVE will establish a community advisory board composed of veterans, family members and representatives from veteran-serving organizations across Texas. Alongside participating veterans and Caring Circles, board members will help identify community needs, guide project priorities and create opportunities for veterans to inform and lead future comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) focused on veteran health and mental health.
Melinda Villagran, Ph.D.
“Veterans’ stories, insights, and lived experiences are essential to advancing knowledge, reducing stigma, and creating more compassionate systems for mental health support,” said Melinda Villagran, Ph.D., executive director of the THRC. “I'm truly honored and excited that the BRAVE Groups will transform lived experiences and stories into shared understanding and collective action to bridge the military and civilian divide.”
The BRAVE project is part of a portfolio of projects funded by PCORI to help develop a community of patients, caregivers, clinicians and other stakeholders who are better equipped to engage as partners in all phases of patient-centered comparative CER and to disseminate results of PCORI-funded studies. Through its Engagement Award Program, PCORI is creating an expansive network of individuals, communities and organizations who can leverage their lived experience and expertise to influence research to be more patient-centered, relevant and useful.
PCORI is a nonprofit organization with a mission to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with the evidence-based information that is needed to make better-informed health care decisions.
