Army-Suicide Prevention Research on Implementation in the National Guard (Army-SPRING)

Attachment 4: Lay Abstract Objective 1: The first objective is to spend 6 months collecting feedback from Army National Guard Soldiers and their family, the religious affairs team, and leadership on how best to reduce risk for suicide. We will also collect feedback from Suicide Intervention Officers, who are appointed to reduce risk for suicide in their unit, about how to support these officers in their important work.

Objective 2: The second objective is to compare two strategies to support Suicide Intervention Officers as they work closely with soldiers to reduce their risk for suicide. The 47 Suicide Intervention Officers in the Connecticut Army National Guard will be randomly assigned (like the flip of a coin) to one of two groups. The first group will attend an extra training (Control Group). The second group will become part of a community focused on reducing suicide risk, including access to online forums to support them in their work, support in leading Battle Drills focused on suicide prevention, and additional training and consultation (Army-SPRING Group). Chaplains/religious affairs specialists will also receive the Army-SPRING group training, but will not be randomized since there are only 5 total Chaplains and 5 religious affairs specialists.

Objective 3: The third objective is to study whether soldiers with Suicide Intervention Officers in the Army-SPRING Group (described in objective 2) report lower rates of suicide ideation and attempts than the Control Group.

Rationale: Every unit in the Connecticut Army National Guard has a Suicide Intervention Officer to provide suicide intervention education awareness for their unit, monitor for soldiers in crisis and connect soldiers with helping resources and agencies. Suicide Intervention Officers need support in this difficult role, yet there is limited guidance on how to help them. This study will shed light on how to support Suicide Intervention Officers and whether this support results in reduced suicide risk in their units.

CBPR Approach and Implementation: We have formed a community advisory board that includes Veterans of Army National Guard units in other states (Pennsylvania); Veterans of the Army with employment as a civilian in the Marines, Chaplains in the Connecticut National Guard on the Air Force (who are intimately familiar with the needs at CT but who are not employees of the Army National Guard), and members of the Suicide Prevention Task force. We have asked for their feedback on the design of the study and will meet with them monthly for the three months and then quarterly thereafter.