NCCIH Research Blog

For the past several years, NCCIH has been working to advance research on complementary and integrative health approaches for managing pain and other symptoms in U.S. military personnel and veterans. This spring, as part of our commitment to expanding research and resources on health issues that affect our military, we are hosting a series of events on integrative health and U.S. military personnel, veterans, and their families.

We welcome the public, health care providers, researchers, and others to attend these upcoming lectures and Facebook Live events. Live streaming of the presentations will be available through NIH Videocast and NCCIH’s Facebook page. You can participate in the question and answer (Q&A) sessions through Facebook Live.

March 27, 2017

10:00 a.m. ET: Presentation, “Promoting Resilience in Military Families: After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools,” by Abigail Gewirtz, Ph.D., L.P.
Lipsett Amphitheater, Building 10, NIH main campus or view online
2:00 p.m. ET: Facebook Live Q&A Session

The After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) program is the first of its kind focused on post-deployment parenting practices in military families. Developed in response to the effects of a parent’s deployment on children, the ADAPT program incorporates emotion socialization techniques including yoga, mindfulness meditation, and emotion coaching.

April 10, 2017

10:00 a.m. ET: Presentation, “Pain and Opioid Management in Veterans: Evidence, Lessons Learned, and Future Directions in the Use of Collaborative and Integrated Care Approaches,” by Karen Seal, M.D., M.P.H.
Lipsett Amphitheater, Building 10, NIH main campus or view online
2:00 p.m. ET: Facebook Live Q&A Session

The overall goal of the OPTI study (Options for Pain Treatment Interventions) is to pilot test a novel collaborative care intervention to improve pain, opioid safety, and use of nonpharmacologic pain management strategies in veterans in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care. Dr. Seal will discuss the ongoing pilot randomized controlled trial among 100 veterans in VA primary care with chronic pain and high-risk prescription opioid use. She will explore how this trial and other studies are laying the groundwork for a generation of new research investigating biopsychosocial, nonpharmacologic care for veterans with chronic pain.

April 25, 2017

1:00 p.m. ET: Facebook Live Q&A Session on “Mind and Body Approaches and Military Personnel and Their Families,” with Eric Schoomaker, M.D., Ph.D., and Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier, M.D.

Drs. Schoomaker and Buckenmaier will discuss mind and body approaches, such as meditation, yoga, and relaxation techniques for pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and insomnia in the military population.

Dr. Schoomaker is a former U.S. Army lieutenant general and served as the 42nd Surgeon General of the U.S. Army and Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command. He is professor and vice-chair for leadership, centers, and programs at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). Chester Buckenmaier, III, M.D., Colonel, U.S. Army (retired), is professor, program director, and principal investigator at the Defense & Veterans Center for Integrative Pain Management at USUHS.

We hope that you can join us for the lectures or the question and answer sessions.