Veteran Suicide Study 1914-2022

Understanding the past to build a better future

This major research shines a light directly on connections between self harm and suicidality and Australian defence force service and transition by collecting information from serving members and their families. The project goes beyond orthodox understandings and takes a life- course approach that incorporates historical, cultural and sociological factors.

Open Door is developing a survey to anchor this longitudinal study with the aim of creating a health and wellbeing database to further understanding of veteran suicide and distress. The whole of life approach records personal circumstances leading to suicidal ideation in veterans, and around those who ended their lives.

Between 1997 and 2020, 1,677 Australian veterans committed suicide (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) which is 27 per cent more than the normal population for males, and 107 per cent more for females. This is a devastating policy failure that needs an urgent response. Stories told by traumatised veterans and their families vividly record their experience with areas like health, housing, education and employment.

“Our aim is to provide a dataset for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), the Department of Defence (DoD) and Department of Veteran’s Affairs (DVA) to better inform policy, reduce veteran suicide and improve wellbeing” said Lead CI, Professor Ben Wadham

This life-course study of veteran distress and suicide funded through an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant and Freemasons Centre for Male Health and Wellbeing, Flinders Foundation, will describe how military, civil and social processes involving government, the military and the veteran sector influence veteran wellbeing and suicide outcomes. It will also provide a historical record of family and veteran accounts of veteran suicide and identifies multidimensional risk factors and contextualise family and veteran accounts of veteran suicide, distress and survival through their life stories. Finally, it will identify where veterans thrive or face challenges in order to guide policy and service provision.

Particular steps were taken with Aboriginal veterans and their communities to obtain first-hand accounts of the challenges of service and transition. This was carried out in accordance with Aboriginal cultural protocols.

Open Door is working in collaboration with the University of Alabama to provide comparative research.

Read more about research here.