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Incidents of Suicide Among African American Veterans
1.) Background
African American Male veterans are reported to be twice as likely to commit suicide compared to the civilians on the streets. So far, most of the information regarding suicide among veterans is derived from the ones accessing healthcare from the VA Department. However, figures show that 75% of veterans do access healthcare via VA. The study shows that African American veterans are 58% more likely to commit suicide by using a firearm. The research also shows that the number of veterans with limitations on daily life activity is high. Such limitations contribute to their tendency to commit suicide. It suggests that there is a need for community interventions. Clinicians have also been urged to detect any signs of the likelihood of a veteran to commit suicide, and to review their access to guns.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Mark Kaplan S., Nathalie Huguet, Bentson H. McFarland, and Jason T. Newsom. "Suicide among male veterans: a prospective population-based study."Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health61, no. 7 (2007): 619.]
Soldiers have always fought to defend America; from the time the nation was founded. Usually, ordinary soldiers and even the highly trained combat personnel complete their service with the military without major injuries. However, such a probability does not mean that all of them leave the service unscathed. There are some veterans that leave the service with serious injuries that limit their life activities significantly. The scars are both physical and psychological. Such effects have far-reaching effects on the veterans and their families. One of the problems include mental disorders, depression, stress among many others are signs of the effects cost of military service among the veterans. The invisible wounds are also commonly manifested through post traumatic stress disorders, commonly referred to as PSTD.[footnoteRef:2] Mr. James Peake who served as the secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs initiated a program to assess the chances of veterans committing suicide[footnoteRef:3]. The Veterans Health Administration has set up improved its mental health services aimed at preventing suicide among veterans.[footnoteRef:4], [footnoteRef:5] Unfortunately, despite the noble efforts made by the VHA, the rates of suicide among the veterans have not changed[footnoteRef:6]. Although there has been plenty of research regarding the interaction of risk factors and how they lead to higher risk of suicide, there is little information from multivariable models that could practically be applied by clinicians.[footnoteRef:7],[footnoteRef:8],[footnoteRef:9] Two reports in recent times show that the predictive model that utilizes information gathered from administrative files can help to pick out the veterans more likely to commit suicide.[footnoteRef:10],[footnoteRef:11] According to the Center for Health Statistics and the CDCP, uploading veteran information is not part of their daily routine reporting of death protocol from the various states. It is, therefore not possible to access accurate rates of death among American veterans compiled from the whole of the US.[footnoteRef:12] [2: Steven, Koven G. "PTSD and Suicides Among VeteransRecent Findings."Public Integrity19, no. 5 (September 2017): 500.] [3: Matthew, Miller, et al. "Veterans and Suicide: A Reexamination of the National Death Index-Linked National Health Interview Survey."American Journal of Public Health102, no. S1 (March 2, 2012): S154] [4: Ira Katz, "Lessons Learned from Mental Health Enhancement and Suicide Prevention Activities in the Veterans Health Administration." American Journal of Public Health, (March 02, 2012.), S14-S165 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, (DHHS/PHS), and (DHHS/PHS) Office of the Surgeon General. "2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action. A Report of the U.S. Surgeon General and of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention." (September...…[14: Ibid]
3.) Reflection of where you answer the given questions
Evidence based practice is an effort being pushed government agencies and community-based organizations. The entities have also invested their resources in the programs to see their success. They hope that the approach will improve peoples health through better health service outcomes. For the purposes of tackling the gap in rates of suicide rates among African American Veteran[footnoteRef:15] the resources deployed will help to reveal facts on the matter. [15: Sarah Hunter B., Bing Han, Mary E. Slaughter, Susan H. Godley, and Bryan R. Garner. "Associations between implementation characteristics and evidence-based practice sustainment: a study of the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach."Implementation Science10, no. 1 (2015): 173]
Research question: What is the rate of suicide among African American male veterans?
Experimental hypothesis (H1): the rate of suicide among African American male veterans is high
Null hypothesis (H0): The difference of suicide rates among male African American Veterans in negligible
The data available to probe the problem of suicide among male African American veterans presents new ideas relating to the issue and the differences in the rates of suicide between those who use VHA services and those who do not access them. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques will be applied. The collected data will be examined and interpreted. It will, consequently allow for generalizations to the whole population of veterans in the US, and the measuring of the occurrence varying views in a specified sample. Qualitative analysis of research will be particularly useful in gaining insightful facts on motivations and causes. Moreover, qualitative research helps to generate hypothesis for the quantitative research.[footnoteRef:16] [16: "Qualitative and Quantitative Research - Data Analysis." Atlas.ti. Accessed April 12, 2018. http://atlasti.com/quantitative-vs-qualitative-research/.]
Bibliography
Kaplan, Mark S., Nathalie Huguet, Bentson H. McFarland, and Jason T. Newsom. "Suicide among male veterans: a…
Bibliography
Kaplan, Mark S., Nathalie Huguet, Bentson H. McFarland, and Jason T. Newsom. "Suicide among male veterans: a prospective population-based study." Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 61, no. 7 (2007): 619-624.
"Qualitative and Quantitative Research - Data Analysis." Atlas.ti. Accessed April 12, 2018. http://atlasti.com/quantitative-vs-qualitative-research/.
Bossarte, Robert M., Cynthia A. Claassen, and Kerry L. Knox. "Evaluating Evidence of Risk for Suicide Among Veterans." Military Medicine 175, no. 10 (October 2010): 703. Koven, Steven G. "PTSD and Suicides Among Veterans—Recent Findings." Public Integrity 19, no. 5 (September 2017): 500. Miller, Matthew, et al. "Veterans and Suicide: A Reexamination of the National Death Index-Linked National Health Interview Survey." American Journal of Public Health 102, no. S1 (March 2, 2012): S154-S159. McCarthy, John F., et al. "Predictive Modeling and Concentration of the Risk of Suicide: Implications for Preventive Interventions in the US Department of Veterans Affairs." American Journal of Public Health 105, no. 9 (September 2015): 1935-1942. Katz, Ira. "Lessons Learned from Mental Health Enhancement and Suicide Prevention Activities in the Veterans Health Administration." American Journal of Public Health, March 02, 2012., S14-S16Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, (DHHS/PHS), and (DHHS/PHS) Office of the Surgeon General. "2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action. A Report of the U.S. Surgeon General and of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention." (September 1, 2012): ERIC.
Galfalvy, Hanga C., Maria A. Oquendo, and J. John Mann. "Evaluation of clinical prognostic models for suicide attempts after a major depressive episode." Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 117, no. 4 (2008): 244-252.
Tiet, Quyen Q., Mark A. Ilgen, Hilary F. Byrnes, and Rudolf H. Moos. "Suicide attempts among substance use disorder patients: an initial step toward a decision tree for suicide management." Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 30, no. 6 (2006): 998-1005.
Kessler, Ronald C., Christopher H. Warner, Christopher Ivany, Maria V. Petukhova, Sherri Rose, Evelyn J. Bromet, Millard Brown et al. "Predicting suicides after psychiatric hospitalization in US Army soldiers: the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS)." JAMA psychiatry 72, no. 1 (2015): 49-57.
Tran, Truyen, Wei Luo, Dinh Phung, Richard Harvey, Michael Berk, Richard Lee Kennedy, and Svetha Venkatesh. "Risk stratification using data from electronic medical records better predicts suicide risks than clinician assessments." BMC psychiatry 14, no. 1 (2014): 76.
Hunter, Sarah B., Bing Han, Mary E. Slaughter, Susan H. Godley, and Bryan R. Garner. "Associations between implementation characteristics and evidence-based practice sustainment: a study of the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach." Implementation Science 10, no. 1 (2015): 173.
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