A Program Evaluation of the U.S. Army's Suicide Prevention

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Problem Statement5

Purpose of Study5

Research Objectives5

Literature Review6

High Deployment Rate8

Suicide rate in the Military civilian populations8

Prevention training9

Designing an Ethically and Clinically-Responsible Strategy10

Suicide Prevention in the Military Environment11

Model of Suicide Prevention12

Effectiveness of the Suicide Prevention Program13

Improvements to the current program14

Results of this study15

Unanticipated Problems Related To the Implementation of This Program16

Methodology17

Research Method17

Data Types18

Secondary Data18

Time Scale19

A Program Evaluation of the U.S. Army's Suicide Prevention

Introduction

Although not recognized as a disease, suicide is a tragic outcome of complex etiology and a leading cause of death worldwide. Suicide is the most dramatic maladjustment problem in the army environment as well. Suicide of a soldier is specific, not only by the tragedy of a soldier himself and his family, but also by its great psychological effect upon the social environment and his army unit.

Since commissioning in the United States Army in MAY 2007, researcher's awareness of the importance of addressing suicide has heightened exponentially. First, in the conduct of daily work, the regulatory, clinical, and ethical demands of competent assessment and intervention for suicidal service members have been substantial. Second, military directives and attention, as well as civilian political pressures and regulatory demands, have continued to heighten. Third, these demands, from both the military and civilian arenas, are in response to the dramatically increasing magnitude of suicide among military service members, past and present.

Suicides in the U.S. Army are increasing, with 88 suspected cases in the first six months of the year, compared with 67 in the same period in 2008, according to figures released by the Pentagon. The latest figures confirm warnings from U.S. military officer's principle that the number of suicides among active duty soldiers this year is surpassing a record set in 2008. Last year, 128 soldiers committed suicide, compared to 115 in 2007, amid growing tension in the Army troops serving repeated tours against. In 2008 the suicide rate among active duty soldiers rose to 20.2 per 100,000, exceeding an adjusted national suicide rate of 19.5 per 100,000 in 2005, which was recorded last year. The 88 reported suicides this year, 54 have been confirmed and 34 are pending investigation, the Department of Defense announced in a statement. In about 90% of the previous cases, suspected suicides have been confirmed, officials say. "Every suicide is different from a soldier's tragic in its own way," said Brigadier General Colleen McGuire, director of the task force to prevent the Army's suicide. "Although suicide affects everyone, we are finding that male soldiers, professional specialty, between 18 and 27 years of age are most vulnerable," said McGuire. (Brent, Baugher, Bridge, Chen & Chiappetta, 1999)

The army has responded to the growing problem with more suicide prevention programs, this is monitoring the soldiers with mental health problems and campaigns to reduce stigma that prevents soldiers seeking psychological treatment. The trauma of combat combined with the effect of repeated tours has led to an increase in suicides in the armed forces and in particular the ...