Katherine Iverson, PhD, has received $5.9 million from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to study a comprehensive, personalized intervention for patients who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Iverson, associate professor of psychiatry and a clinical research psychologist at the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD and VA Boston Healthcare System, will colead the study with Melissa Dichter, PhD, MSW, a researcher at the VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion and associate professor in the College of Public Health at Temple University. The study will test whether Recovering from IPV through Strengths and Empowerment (RISE) or brief advocacy counseling, the most common intervention, is better for improving self-efficacy and mental health symptoms such as depression among patients with past-year IPV at VA healthcare facilities.

RISE was developed to provide patients experiencing IPV with an individualized, motivational, and flexible intervention that addresses safety planning, IPV health effects and warning signs, coping and selfcare, social support, sexual violence over the lifespan, and moving forward while connecting with resources.

“Early research on RISE suggests it is effective at improving patients’ self-efficacy and depression symptoms,” said Dichter. “However, it’s not known how well RISE works compared to what patients typically receive for IPV intervention in healthcare settings. That’s what we want to find out.”

The five-year study will randomly assign patients to either RISE or brief advocacy. Participants will answer questions about self-efficacy and depression symptoms before receiving treatment, 12 weeks later, and every three months after that for one year. Researchers will compare which intervention—RISE versus brief advocacy— worked better to increase self-efficacy and decrease depression symptoms.

“IPV is more common among military veterans, so there’s a particular need for more personalized, structured, and comprehensive interventions among this group,” says Iverson. “What we learn from this study is likely to be helpful for improving health outcomes among veterans, and among the general population, as well.”

The study was selected by the Patient- Centered Outcomes Research Institute, or PCORI, through a competitive review process in which patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders join scientists to evaluate proposals.