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About CPG

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What is a CPG?

Clinical Practice Guidelines contain research informed recommendations on how to diagnose and treat a medical or psychiatric condition. This site explores the CPG For Patients at Risk for Suicide.

What is the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for Patients at Risk for Suicide?

The VA/DoD CPG for Patients at Risk for Suicide uses evidence-based information to guide health care providers in screening, evaluation, treatment, and case management. It provides clinical practice recommendations for the care of service members and Veterans at risk for suicide, as well as, guidance to inform specialty referrals.

How can this site help apply the CPG's recommendations in practice?

This site helps translate the recommendations into tangible strategies by providing a roadmap and resources for how to apply them to the service members and Veterans you serve.

  • A Fresh Look: Presenting the New CPG for Suicide Prevention Website
    This 30-minute webinar — presented by Bridget Matarazzo, PsyD — features a full overview of the CPG website. The goal of the presentation is to help future users feel comfortable and confident using the website. You don't want to skip this informative session!
  • CPG Website One-pager
    This one-pager provides a quick overview of what to expect and how to get the most value from your visit to this website.

Who should use this CPG?

This CPG is intended for use by Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) health care practitioners and those in the community involved in the care of service members or Veterans at risk for suicide.

How was the CPG for Patients at Risk for Suicide developed?

The VA/DoD CPG for Patients at Risk for Suicide is based on a systematic review of both clinical and epidemiological evidence. Developed by a panel of multidisciplinary experts in VA and DoD, it provides a review of relevant literature that informs each recommendation. The CPG also rates the quality of the evidence and the strength for each of the 22 recommendations.

CPG Development Process: Step 1 - Formulate and prioritize key questions and define critical outcomes. Step 2 - Convent patient focus groups. Step 3 - Conduct systematic evidence review. Step 4 - Convene a face to face meeting. Step 5 - Draft and submit final CPG

Level of Evidence

Each recommendation is graded by assessing the quality of the overall evidence base, the associated benefits and harms, patient and provider values and preferences, and other implications of the recommendation. Specifically, the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach was used by VA and DoD Evidence-Based Practice Work Group (EBPWG) to develop this CPG and corresponding recommendations.

Recommendation Category
CPG Recommendation Category

The evidence for each recommendation was Reviewed. Then, based on this evidence review, each recommendation was categorized as:

  • "New-added"
  • "New-replaced"
  • "Not changed"
  • "Amended"
  • "Deleted"
Recommendation Strength
CPG Recommendation Strength

The grade of each recommendation is presented as part of a continuum:

  • Strong For (or "We recommend offering this option …")
  • Weak For (or "We suggest offering this option …")
  • No recommendation for or against (or "There is insufficient evidence …")
  • Weak Against (or "We suggest not offering this option …")
  • Strong Against (or "We recommend against offering this option …")
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