ASCEND for Veteran Suicide Prevention

Series to commemorate Memorial Day in the United States. Flags on headstones in a military cemetary.

A recurring national surveillance study to inform efforts to combat Veteran suicides

Client

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Rocky Mountain Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center for Veteran Suicide Prevention
Dates

June 2019 – Present

Problem

Suicide among Veterans is a growing crisis that is poorly understood.

The motivations and circumstances leading to veterans' suicides are complex. Because only 30 percent of veterans use services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), creating effective public health programs to reduce suicidal behaviors and violence in veterans is challenging. Research often misses some hard-to-reach or understudied veteran populations, including women, those living in rural areas, and those who have recently left active-duty service. Also, little is known about factors that can prevent suicidal behavior in veterans, including social, family, and VA support systems. These shortcomings in our knowledge have hampered efforts to create a surveillance system to prevent suicide across all veteran populations.

Solution

NORC is conducting wave two of a national survey of veterans. NORC completed wave one in 2022.

The VA partnered with NORC to design and implement a large national survey of veterans inside and outside the Veterans Health Administration system. The survey, called Assessing Social and Community Environments with National Data (ASCEND) for Veteran Suicide Prevention, aims to learn more about the number of veterans experiencing suicidal thoughts, what puts veterans at risk for suicide, and the behaviors, including family and community support, that can protect them from suicidal thoughts and actions.

This project incorporates previous NORC efforts to design and field a pilot study to determine best practices for surveying this population. NORC designed and fielded a national, multi-faceted survey of veterans with over 17,000 completed interviews in 2022. Data collection techniques included online, paper-and-pencil, and computer-assisted telephone interviewing. Following data collection, NORC led the project's data processing, weighting, analysis, data delivery, and reporting. In 2024, NORC is fielding wave to of ASCEND, and continuing to collaborate with the VA on dissemination of results through journal articles and other publications.