More than half of a group of Veterans who were offered money to participate in a VA research study chose to donate the money to a Veteran Service Organization (VSO) instead.
Among Veterans who reported having a financial strain, one third still chose to donate.
“On the 100th anniversary of VA research, this unanticipated finding felt particularly poignant,” wrote study authors Dr. Donna Zulman of the VA Center for Innovation to Implementation in Palo Alto, California, and Dr. Matthew Maciejewski of the Durham Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation at the Durham VA Health Care System in North Carolina. “The generosity of study participants reflects an ethos of service that is common among Veterans, rooted in their military experience, and inspiring to all those who work in the VA system.”
The researchers conducted a survey with a national sample of more than 3,000 Veterans. Veterans were offered a $10 incentive to participate—a common research practice to boost study numbers—and were given the option of donating the money to an organization that supports Veterans.
The donations from the research participants raised $17,200 for Disabled American Veterans
The findings demonstrate Veterans’ commitment to serving others who have served, said the researchers. Veterans also reported they are motivated to participate in research, Veteran engagement groups and other activities that contribute to the benefit of Veterans and their communities.
This study’s findings highlight the value of offering a donation option to encourage research participation, said the study’s authors.
“Just as the scientific advances achieved through Veterans’ engagement in research benefit the broader population, the actions of Veterans in this study might inspire VA and non-VA researchers to offer donation as an incentive in future studies,” concluded the researchers.
The study results appeared in the journal “JAMA Network Open.”
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Notable absence of any reference to male caucasians or white males participation and or reference in this so-called study. Was it another woke attempt to exclude this group of people. Rather sad considering it was published in JAMA and noted in a VA email to veterans.
Where did donations go? In vash hud homeless program yet got nothing from VSC when I moved into Lumbee Tribe of nc veterans village.. disabled veteran son didn’t either..
Inquiring minds want to know..
Where did the donations go?