Using research to transform care for women veterans: advancing the research agenda and enhancing research-clinical partnerships

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report on the outcomes of the 2010 VA Women's Health Services Research Conference, which brought together investigators interested in pursuing research on women veterans and women in the military with leaders in women's health care delivery and policy within and outside the VA, to significantly advance the state and future direction of VA women's health research and its potential impacts on practice and policy. Building on priorities assembled in the previous VA research agenda (2004) and the research conducted in the intervening six years, we used an array of approaches to foster research-clinical partnerships that integrated the state-of-the-science with the informational and strategic needs of senior policy and practice leaders. With demonstrated leadership commitment and support, broad field-based participation, strong interagency collaboration and a push to accelerate the move from observational to interventional and implementation research, the Conference provided a vital venue for establishing the foundation for a new research agenda. In this paper, we provide the historical evolution of the emergence of women veterans' health services research and an overview of the research in the intervening years since the first VA women's health research agenda. We then present the resulting VA Women's Health Research Agenda priorities and supporting activities designed to transform care for women veterans in six broad areas of study, including access to care and rural health; primary care and prevention; mental health; post deployment health; complex chronic conditions, aging and long-term care; and reproductive health.