Citation

Pak K, Ferreira KE, Ghahramanlou-Holloway M. Arch. Suicide Res. 2019; 23(2): 179-202.

Affiliation

Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology , Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) , Bethesda , MD , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, International Academy of Suicide Research, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13811118.2018.1428704

PMID

29393834

Abstract

Suicide continues to be a significant public health problem in the United States and the Department of Defense (DoD). Timely and systematic postvention efforts can play an instrumental role in helping family members, peers, and military command to best manage the aftermath of a suicide. To date, several postvention efforts have been implemented in the military. However, there continues to be an overall lack of understanding of the specific short- and long-term effects of exposure to military suicide. In addition, more emphasis needs to be placed on empirically driven approaches to postvention and program evaluation. The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) to provide a summary of the postvention literature with special emphasis placed on the military organization; (2) to propose a conceptual model as a framework for understanding Military-Unit Suicide Survivorship; and (3) to briefly highlight postvention strategies within the DoD in the context of a number of research, clinical, and policy recommendations.

Language: en