Army Study To Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers
Army STARRS is the largest study of mental health risk and resilience ever conducted among military personnel.
Beginning in 2011, Army STARRS investigators will look for factors that help protect a Soldier’s mental health and those factors that put a Soldier’s mental health at risk. Army STARRS is a five-year study that will run through 2014; however, research findings will be reported as they become available so that they may be applied to ongoing health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide prevention efforts. Because promoting mental health and reducing suicide risk are important for all Americans; the findings from Army STARRS will benefit not only servicemembers but the nation as a whole.
Soldier confidentiality is essential to Army STARRS. Because this research explores several very personal topics, answers will be held in the strictest confidence. Any information that could be used to identify a Soldier will be removed from responses and other study information. Each individual's responses will be combined with the responses from other study participants. Researchers will analyze the combined information to find ways to improve Soldiers' overall mental health.
A participant's answers will never be shared with anyone in the Army unless the Soldier indicates that s/he is in imminent danger of self-harm or harming someone else.
Joining Army STARRS is completely voluntary. Responses and personal information will remain strictly confidential. If researchers invite a Soldier to participate, the Soldier can decide whether or not to do so.
Soldiers’ participation in Army STARRS is vitally important to the outcomes of the study. The greater the number of Soldiers who join the study, the more successful researchers will be in identifying the risk and protective factors that affect Soldiers’ psychological well-being. By being part of Army STARRS, you may influence and shape the Army’s ongoing health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide-prevention efforts, which could lead to improved resources for you and your family. In addition, because psychological well-being is important to Americans from all walks of life, the findings from Army STARRS will benefit the nation as a whole.
If you are asked to participate in Army STARRS, your contribution is valuable and confidential but strictly voluntary.
For more information about Army STARRS please visit the following links:
About the Study
Soldiers Page
Resources
Q&A
