Primary Care Veteran Preferences for Receiving Information about Mental Health Services: Cross-Sectional Survey

The purpose of this study was to understand contextual characteristics of how veterans in primary care prefer to receive mental healthcare information (i.e., information about mental health symptoms/services) in terms of provider, location, and format. One hundred sixteen primary care veterans with behavioral health concerns (58% depression, 37% PTSD, 50% hazardous alcohol use) participated in a cross-sectional phone and mail survey. Forty-seven percent had recently received mental health services; Fifty-three percent had not. Overall, veterans preferred receiving mental health information from behavioral health providers (n = 55, 47%) and via individual face-to-face communication (n = 65, 56%). However, veterans without recent mental health treatment were more likely to endorse home as their most preferred location (n = 18, 29%) and mailed self-help materials as their most preferred format (n = 11, 18%) compared to veterans with recent mental health treatment. Veterans with recent mental health treatment were more likely to endorse Veterans Affairs behavioral health clinics as their most preferred location (n = 23, 43%) and face-to-face communication as their most preferred format (n = 37, 69%) compared to veterans without recent mental health treatment. When tailoring mental health communication to veterans with behavioral health concerns, findings suggest that recent mental health treatment history is an important distinction. These results can inform development of public health messaging, decision aids, and psychoeducational material for veterans. Future research should evaluate the impact of age, gender, and service era on preferences to better understand how to tailor messaging and materials to more specific groups of veterans.