Women represent 15% of veteran callers to the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL); there has been little research identifying the experiences and needs of women veterans who use the VCL. The objective of this study was to identify women veterans’ experiences with and recommendations for strengthening VCL services for women. We conducted qualitative interviews with 26 women veterans across the United States who had contacted the VCL in the preceding year. Interviews were conducted by telephone in 2022 and were audio recorded and transcribed. A team-based content analysis approach was used to identify participants’ concerns around contacting the VCL and recommendations for strengthening the service. Interviews revealed women veterans’ concerns with regard to contacting the VCL related to responder gender, appropriateness of VCL services for veterans not at imminent risk for suicide, and potential consequences of contacting the VCL. Key recommendations included letting veterans select the gender of the responder who takes their call, providing more information to potential callers about what to expect from VCL calls, and raising awareness about and maintaining options for caller anonymity. This study uniquely focused on women veterans’ experiences and perspectives, in their own voices. Findings point to trauma-informed approaches supporting women veteran callers to the VCL and may also hold implications for other similar crisis hotline services.

中文翻译：

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“必须采取一些措施让女性感到安全”：女退伍军人关于加强女退伍军人退伍军人危机热线的建议

拨打退伍军人危机热线 (VCL) 的退伍军人中，女性占 15%；很少有研究确定使用 VCL 的女退伍军人的经历和需求。本研究的目的是了解女退伍军人在加强针对女性的 VCL 服务方面的经验和建议。我们对去年曾联系过 VCL 的美国 26 名女性退伍军人进行了定性访谈。采访于 2022 年通过电话进行，并进行了录音和转录。使用基于团队的内容分析方法来确定参与者对联系 VCL 的担忧以及加强服务的建议。访谈显示，女性退伍军人对联系 VCL 的担忧涉及应答者性别、VCL 服务对没有迫在眉睫的自杀风险的退伍军人的适当性，以及联系 VCL 的潜在后果。主要建议包括让退伍军人选择接听电话的应答者的性别、向潜在呼叫者提供更多关于 VCL 呼叫的期望信息，以及提高对呼叫者匿名的认识并维护呼叫者匿名选项。这项研究特别关注女性退伍军人的经历和观点，以及她们自己的声音。研究结果表明，创伤知情的方法可以为拨打 VCL 的女性退伍军人呼叫者提供支持，也可能对其他类似的危机热线服务产生影响。