MSRC White Papers

The following white papers have been published by MSRC in response to requests from MOMRP.

Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts are relatively prevalent among military personnel (Nock et al., 2014). Given this, there is some concern that soldiers experiencing suicidal ideation, in treatment for suicidal ideation, or recovering from an acute suicidal crisis, may be unable to serve. Addressing this concern is the purpose of this white paper.

Last Updated: July 30, 2019
PDF Document: PDF icon MSRC White Paper Ability to Serve July 2019.pdf

Suicide is a leading cause of death in military personnel (WHO, 2016). Current practices in predicting suicide attempts are limited in timing and accuracy (Bentley et al., 2016; Chang et al., 2016; Franklin et al., 2016; Ribeiro et al., 2016). Identifying individuals at risk for suicide with the use of machine learning in social media posts and medical databases are new approaches to suicide prevention.

Last Updated: March 23, 2017
PDF Document: PDF icon MSRC White paper ML social media research.pdf

Preventing suicide among military personnel is of the utmost importance; however, it is currently unknown whether suicide risk is a categorical (i.e., high vs. low risk) or dimensional phenomenon. This knowledge could have critical implications for developing effective, efficient suicide risk assessment and intervention procedures. Specifically, if suicide risk is categorical instead of dimensional, it may be possible to use briefer and empirically based assessments to accurately group people into high and low risk categories.

Last Updated: March 14, 2015
PDF Document: PDF icon MSRC_Taxometric_Study_of_Suicide_Risk_Drs_Holm-Denoma_Witte.pdf

Despite the inherent joy of holidays, there is a significant amount of stress and negative emotions leading many to wonder what effect holidays have on suicide as a whole. It is because of this concern that this white paper has been developed.

Last Updated: November 21, 2014
PDF Document: PDF icon MSRC -Holiday and Suicide.pdf

Despite preliminary evidence indicating a sharp decline in suicide rates within the military in 2013, data indicate that the National Guard experienced a continued increase (American Forces Press Service, 2014). The importance of studying this component of the military is thus clear; however, anecdotally, this group has historically been difficult to recruit.

Last Updated: September 04, 2014
PDF Document: PDF icon RecruitmentNationalGuardWhitePaper.pdf

Exposure to death is inherent in military service. Service members are exposed to death in combat, during training accidents and/or by suicide. This white paper explores the effects of being exposed to death by suicide to determine health consequences of such exposure, and to identify possible interventions if needed.

Last Updated: June 26, 2014
PDF Document: PDF icon Military%20Suicide%20Exposure.pdf

The Military Suicide Research Consortium (MSRC) hosted a pre-conference workshop at the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) annual conference in both 2013 and 2014 to provide advanced training for graduate students, interns, and post-doctorate fellows interested in military suicide research.

Last Updated: May 21, 2014
PDF Document: PDF icon WhitePaperMSRCPreconferenceWorkshopTucker.pdf

Is there relevant literature linking the side effect of the drug mefloquine, used to prevent and treat malaria, to suicide and suicide attempts?

Last Updated: May 09, 2014
PDF Document: PDF icon MefloquineandSuicidePMG.pdf

Evaluate the evidence to support claims made about the ability of the Olympic Labs Dynamic Predictive Analytic Algorithms for Stressors & Acute Precipitants of Violence to predict suicide in active duty military personnel.

Last Updated: August 31, 2012
PDF Document: PDF icon Analytic algorithms .pdf

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