Preventing Veteran Suicide: A Landscape Analysis of Existing Programs, Their Evidence, and What the Next Generation of Programs May Look Like

Abstract

Preventing veteran suicide is a national priority for government, veteran advocacy groups, and the private sector. This attention has led many individuals and organizations to leverage their expertise to create, expand, or promote activities that they hope will prevent future deaths. While the number and array of diverse approaches reflect a nation committed to a common goal, they also can create confusion. Advances in technology also generate questions about the future of veteran suicide prevention. In this study, the authors analyze current and emerging activities to prevent veteran suicide. They introduce the RAND Suicide Prevention Activity Matrix, a framework that organizes current approaches, how they complement each other, how they might change, their evidence for preventing veteran suicide, and why they might (or might not) work. This framework places 26 categories of activities in a matrix based on whom the activity targets (the veteran directly, those who regularly interact with the veteran, or social influences) and what the activity is intended to accomplish (address social conditions, promote general well-being, address mental health symptoms, provide mental health supports, and prevent suicide crises). Entities committed to preventing veteran suicide and seeking to design evidence-informed, comprehensive suicide prevention strategies will benefit from the framework and evidence reviewed in this study, in addition to the recommendations the authors developed from these data.

Keywords: Depression; Health Interventions; Mental Health Treatment; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Preventive Health Care; Suicide; Veterans Health Care.

Figure 1

Cataloging Veteran Suicide Prevention Activities Within the RAND Suicide Prevention Activity Matrix

Figure 2

Illustrative Decision Tree for Funding Suicidality Treatment Based on Group of Interest