Self-harm and suicide behaviours in the UK Armed Forces

Nested within Phase 4 of the KCMHR Health and Wellbeing Study, the overarching aim of this PhD project is to explore self-harm and suicide behaviours in the UK Armed Forces using a mixed methods design.

This doctoral project aims to provide an overview of self-harm and suicide behaviours in the UK Armed Forces. The project will quantitatively examine the prevalence (current and longitudinal) of self-harm and suicide behaviours and identify the risk and protective factors associated with self-harm and suicide behaviours, among Serving and ex-Serving personnel of the UK Armed Forces. Additionally, this project will qualitatively investigate UK ex-Serving personnel's experiences of seeking/not seeking help for self-harm and suicide behaviours.

This PhD project is split into 3 sub-studies: (1) systematic review, (2) qualitative study (primary data from individual interviews with Veterans recruited via Phase 4 of the KCMHR Health and Wellbeing Study), and (3) quantitative study (secondary data from various phases of the KCMHR Health and Wellbeing study).

• Systematic Review: What are the risk and protective factors associated with self-harm and suicide behaviours among military populations as reported in existing literature? 

• Qualitative Study: What are UK ex-Serving personnel’s experiences of seeking help for self-harm and suicide behaviours? 

• Quantitative Study: What is the prevalence of, and factors associated with, self-harm and suicide behaviours among UK Serving and ex-Serving personnel?

For the Qualitative Study, the aim is to recruit 15-20 Veterans with a variety of experiences via Phase 4 of the KCMHR Health and Wellbeing Study.

For the Quantitative Study, participants will be include those who took part in various phases of the KCMHR Health and Wellbeing study.