Shifting the Mindset on Help Seeking in the Military: REACH Field Test Results
Abstract
Despite the prevalence of DoD and Service branch resources to support Service members who are dealing with stressful situations, approximately half of all military personnel who need mental health support, particularly for suicide risk, do not access it. In FY19, the Defense Personnel and Security Research Center, a division of the Office of People Analytics, developed an upstream suicide risk intervention entitled Resources Exist, Asking Can Help (REACH), in coordination with Military Community and Family Policy, Defense Suicide Prevention Office, and the military Service branches. REACH is an intervention designed to normalize help seeking among Service members by reducing barriers to care, increasing comfort with seeking help, and increasing knowledge of resources. REACH includes an interactive icebreaker; a short video modeling stressors and problems that all Service members face; a small group discussion about barriers, solutions, and resources; and a practice call to Military OneSource. The current study is a field test to evaluate the effectiveness of REACH using a formative approach. Participants in the field test came from the Navy, Air Force, and Army Service branches. Researchers trained facilitators who then led REACH sessions with groups of 6 to 20 Service members. Results from three of the four sites demonstrate that REACH sessions lowered perceptions of barriers, increased Service members comfort with seeking help, and increased their knowledge of resources. Data from the fourth site were analyzed separately and models were underpowered to detect the effect of the REACH session on the outcomes of interest. Recommendations are discussed for how to bring REACH up to scale across the total military force.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1114046
Entities
People
- Adam D. Cooper
- Amina A. Neville
- Bradley D. Latendresse
- Jessica A. Baweja
- Marie M. Osborn
- Olga G. Shechter
- Tiffany E. Ho
Organizations
- Northrop Grumman
- Office of People Analytics