By Jim Lorraine, The Hill
There are countless studies that show the risk of suicide is higher among those who served in the military when compared to civilians.
The Department of Veteran Affairs recognizes this issue and is taking steps to better identify and support those who served who are at risk of taking their own life. While there is a large catalogue of research analyzing suicide rates of those who served in the military, many of these studies overlook key factors that could help policymakers understand the full scope of this issue and, in turn, develop more effective preventative programs.
Here are a few of the elements that researchers should be incorporating into their studies:
A Local Perspective
Many military suicide studies focus on trends from a national scale, while those that do incorporate a regional or local perspective typically extrapolate data from the federal level and apply findings to the county level. This methodology ignores the unique social and cultural influences present within different communities, each of which can have distinct effects on those who served. Additionally, studies that focus solely on national trends don’t take into consideration that impact that support from services outside of federal programs can have on outlooks of those who served in the military.
To better complement the findings of national studies, researchers should take a reverse approach that focuses on data and insight pulled directly from local communities. In addition to data, studies should incorporate the perspective of the people who actually live and interact with those who served who are at-risk within the community.
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