Oral Presentation (max 20 mins) National Suicide Prevention Conference 2025

Understanding risk factors for suicidal behaviour in a military context: A concept mapping approach (#17)

Kairi Kolves 1 , Luke Bayliss 1 , Alex Donaldson 2 , Geoff Dickson 2 , Zoe Jenkins 3 , Nikki Jamieson 4 , Ed Heffernan 5 , Jennifer Wild 3 6 7 , Jacinta Hawgood 1
  1. Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, QLD, Australia
  2. Centre for Sport and Social Impact, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  3. Joint Health Command, Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  4. Mental Health and Wellbeing Branch, Deputy People Group, Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  5. Queensland Forensic Mental Health Service, Metro North, Queensland Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  6. Phoenix Australia, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  7. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, The UK

Aims/Background:

The aim of this study is to better understand risk factors associated with suicidal behaviour within the military context using concept mapping.

Suicide is a major concern among current and former members of military. Whilst a large body of literature exists on suicidality in this population, more research using innovative methodologies is needed to identify risk factors that could be addressed within the military. The recent Royal Commission highlighted a lack of new suicide research in the Australian military context, beyond reporting suicide rates. This study addresses this gap by employing concept mapping to gather multi-stakeholder perspectives on risk factors related to military suicidal behaviour. Concept mapping, a tool often used in fields like public health to better understand complex issues and inform system-wide solutions, is relatively new in suicide research. 

Method/Design

Three groups of stakeholders were recruited: (1) people with lived experience of suicide in a military context, (2) military mental health clinicians, and (3) researchers with expertise in suicide in a military context. Participants generated (brainstormed) ideas on what constitutes a risk factor for suicidal behaviour in a military context, then organised and rated all statements. Data was collected and analysed to visually represent ideas on the topic using the GroupWisdom platform.

Results: In total, 46 stakeholders participated in at least one stage of the study (brainstorming, sorting and/or rating). The brainstorming stage generated 99 statements that were identified as risk factors of suicidal behaviour, which were further sorted into groups by participants. Using multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis, a 7-cluster solution was considered the most meaningful. A further rating of suicide risk factors showed risk factors based on their importance and feasibility to address in the military context.

The majority of perceived risk factors rated as the most important and feasible for the military to address were from four clusters: adverse military experiences, help seeking and support during service and transition, poor culture and behaviours in military, and military structure and function.

Implications: The results of this study will inform the development of a suicide research framework which will guide future suicide prevention initiatives within the Australian Defence Force.