TIAG Awarded Two Contracts to Develop Suicide Prevention Curriculum for Health Care Professionals

TIAG announced that it has been recently awarded two contracts for human-centered design work with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the University of Southern California’s (USC) Institute for Creative Technologies to conduct a needs assessment and formative evaluation around Suicide Safety Planning training in the DoD and create design documentation for a virtual standardized patient to assist with Suicide Safety Planning training for DoD providers.      

According to Clinical Psychologist Dr. Aaron Norr, despite unprecedented suicide prevention efforts being undertaken in the last decade, suicide rates among veterans and military service members remain elevated relative to the pre-9/11 era. 

“The risk of suicide is 22% higher among veterans as compared to civilians after controlling for differences in age and gender,” shares TIAG Managing Principal and Chief Strategy Officer, Umang Modi, “These statistics highlight the urgent need to continue developing and implementing scientifically supported interventions among this population.”

TIAG will assess the feasibility and usability of an interactive training program using USC’s Virtual Standardized Patient (VSP) with the VA and DoD providers on how to administer suicide Safety Planning Intervention (SPI). Establishing a suicide prevention curriculum using the VSP would be applicable to broad range of health care professions, graduate training programs, crisis management education and training, and workforce readiness. 

About TIAG® 

TIAG specializes in transformation and innovation. We are a proud woman-owned business and Great Place to Work-Certified® company focused on empowering the brightest minds with a shared passion for making an impact. Our expertise in streamlining complex mission critical processes and delivering results that exceed expectations sets us apart and can be seen in our ISO 9001/27001 certification and achieving CMMI Level 3. To see how we are making a difference for our customers and in our communities, visit us at tiag.net.

About MSCR (Department of Defense Military Suicide Research Consortium) 

The MSRC Research Program runs cutting-edge empirical studies to further the knowledge base on topics such as risk assessment, treatment, and prevention, as they pertain to suicidal behavior in the military.