Improving Oversight and Coordination of Department of Defense Programs That Address Problematic Behaviors Among Military Personnel

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has begun to search for an integrated solution to a range of behaviors that members of the military exhibit that have had an adverse impact on operational readiness or on the well-being of service members and their familiesbehaviors that DoD calls problematic. After nearly two decades of persistent conflict and facing declining resources, the military services have taken steps in recent years to integrate the management of programs that address both positive and negative behaviors affecting personnel readiness and resiliency. Although the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has followed a largelystovepiped approach to behavioral program supervision, the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity (ODMEO) asked the RAND Corporation to help identify options for improving OSDs coordination and oversight of efforts to mitigate problematic behavior among military personnel. This final report provides the results of the RAND study examining the integration of programs for addressing a particular set of problematic behaviors: sexual harassment, sexual assault, discrimination, substance abuse, suicide, and hazing. ODMEO selected these behavioral programs because they fell within the full or partial purview of the military deputy to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the time of our research and because they provided a good basis for integrative analysis. The report combines the results of the two major lines of research: the first related to the development of a typology of common risk and protective factors and prevention methods for problematic behavior, and the second related to the organization, coordination, oversight, and managerial practices of programs at the DoD-wide and service levels to address problematic behavior. Following the discussion of findings from the two lines of research, the report lays out a series of recommendations for OSD going forward.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2017
Accession Number
AD1085140

Entities

People

  • Anny Wong
  • Coreen A. Farris
  • Douglas Shontz
  • Eunice C Wong
  • Jefferson P. Marquis
  • Jennie W. Wenger
  • Kimberly C. Hall
  • Kristy N. Kamarck
  • Nelson Lim
  • Paul S. Steinberg
  • Robert Stewart
  • Thomas E Trail

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Business Administration
  • Depression
  • Drug Abuse
  • Employment
  • Families (Human)
  • Health Services
  • Human Behavior
  • Management Personnel
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Medicine
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Prejudice
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes
  • Substance-Related Disorders

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.
  • Rehabilitation and Prosthetic Care for Military Service Members and Veterans with Limb Loss or Disability.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.