The Future of Veteran Community Engagement: Perspectives on Engaging Veterans and Other Stakeholders in Research Agenda Setting

Veteran communities including veterans, their families, and their caregivers are vital collaborators in the field of veterans studies. Veteran community engaged research (CEnR) generates findings that are impactful and applicable to target populations. Veteran CEnR is a valuable emerging methodological approach. In the two decades since 9/11, clinical and health services researchers have increasingly prioritized participatory veteran research designs. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the important application of veteran CEnR to the development of a US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) research agenda that tackles a nuanced subject—veteran community reintegration. The Enhancing Veteran Community Reintegration Research (ENCORE) project includes a multi-stakeholder partnership (MSP) that engages veterans, families and caregivers, VA program directors, leaders in veteran community reintegration research, and representatives from community based veteran service organizations. Veteran CEnR was used as an approach to co-author this article with MSP research partners. Contributions from MSP volunteer authors are woven throughout the article to illustrate the organization and functioning of the MSP and impact of this type of stakeholder engagement throughout the project.