Evaluation of a Veterans Health Administration Whole Health for Mental Health Course for Clinicians.

Veterans experience mental health disorders at higher rates than their civilian counterparts and also experience multiple barriers to mental health services. The Veterans Health Administration (VA) has implemented a Whole Health approach to make health care more person-focused and oriented toward promotion of health-sustaining behavior. We conducted an evaluation to investigate the effects of a Whole Health for Mental Health (WHMH) course for clinicians that focuses on shifting the perspective to a system of care in which mental health is incorporated as a core part of whole-person care. We collected surveys before the course, immediately after the course, and at a 2-month follow-up. The course was implemented in non-clinical settings in two VA medical centers (one in the Northeast and one in the Mountain West). Our sample consisted of VA staff who enrolled in WHMH and completed a pre- and post-survey ( = 100) and follow-up survey ( = 99). The WHMH is a 2-day face-to-face course that covers multiple aspects of mental health through a Whole Health lens. The course includes evidence-based practices within each aspect of mental health. The course also emphasizes implementation of Whole Health in clinicians' lives, their practice, and the health care system. Attitudes were measured at pre-, post-, and follow-up assessments. The WHMH behaviors were measured at pre- and follow-up assessments. There were statistically significant, large changes toward improvement from pre-test to post-test for all attitudes examined. These changes remained significant at follow-up, and the magnitude of change remained at least medium to large. Statistically significant, medium magnitude or larger improvements were found at follow-up for four of the five WHMH behavior outcomes examined. Our results suggest that clinicians can increase their attitudes and use of Whole Health concepts and both conventional and complementary approaches related to mental health issues.