University News

WIU Assistant Professor of Communication Lance Brendan Young teaches on the WIU-QC campus.
[Download Print-Quality Image]

WIU Professor Receives Grant for Veterans Research

October 31, 2014

Share |
Printer friendly version

MACOMB, IL - Western Illinois University Assistant Professor of Communication Lance Brendan Young is part of a research team which received a nearly $100,000 grant to train clinical staff at substance use disorder treatment programs at three VA hospitals in the Midwest.

The $99,532 grant is being used to train staff on the use of an enhanced intensive referral intervention at VA's in Minneapolis, MN, Des Moines, IA, and Coralville, IA. The intervention is a referral protocol to reintegrate veterans into the community as they are discharged from VA facilities.

"Our team has enhanced the intervention to address the needs of veterans living in rural areas," said Young. "The funding mechanism requires the research team to train staff and subsequently collect and analyze formative evaluation data to refine the intervention prior to implementation beyond the Midwest. So many of our nation's military veterans struggle with substance use disorder and other mental health problems that our available resources are overwhelmed. I am both proud and honored to help the VA leverage community resources to bridge the gap."

The grant was awarded by the Department of Veterans Affairs' Substance Use Disorder Health Services Research and Development Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) Rapid Research Project.


Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing