News Release
Better Coordination of Psychological Health, Traumatic Brain Injury Programs for Military Needed
Nov 9, 2011
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Over the last decade, U.S. military forces have been engaged in extended conflicts that are characterized by increased operational tempo, most notably in Iraq and Afghanistan. While most military personnel cope well across the deployment cycle, many will experience difficulties handling stress at some point; will face psychological health challenges, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression; or will be affected by the short- and long-term psychological and cognitive consequences of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Over the past several years, the Department of Defense (DoD) has implemented numerous programs that address various components of psychological health along the resilience, prevention, and treatment continuum and focus on a variety of clinical and nonclinical concerns. This comprehensive catalog of programs currently sponsored or funded by DoD to address psychological health and TBI provides overviews and detailed descriptions of 211 programs, along with a description of how programs relate to other available resources and care settings. It also provides recommendations for clarifying the role of programs, examining gaps in routine service delivery that could be filled by programs, and reducing implementation barriers. Barriers include inadequate funding and resources, concerns about the stigma associated with receiving psychological health services, and inability to have servicemembers spend adequate time in programs. The authors found that there is significant duplication of effort, both within and across branches of service. As each program develops its methods independently, it is difficult to determine which approaches work and which are ineffective. Recommendations include strategic planning, centralized coordination, and information-sharing across branches of service, combined with rigorous evaluation. Programs should be evaluated and tracked in a database, and evidence-based interventions should be used to support program efforts.
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
Conceptualizing Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury
Chapter Three
What Is a Program?
Chapter Four
Methods
Chapter Five
Results
Chapter Six
Recommendations and Conclusions
Appendix A
Index of Programs
Appendix B
Program Descriptions
Appendix C
Excluded Entities
Appendix D
Mapping Programs to Our Typology of Program Activities
Appendix E
Terms and Definitions
The research described in this report was prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The research was conducted jointly by the Center for Military Health Policy Research, a RAND Health program, and the Forces and Resources Policy Center, a RAND National Defense Research Institute (NDRI) program. NDRI is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by OSD, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community.
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