Understanding and improving responses to suicidality for Department of Veterans’ clients in Queensland: a data linkage study
About the project
Researchers at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research are undertaking a data linkage study to better understand suicidality, health service use, and care pathways among Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) clients in Queensland. This improved understanding will be used to identify opportunities to strengthen responses across the health and veteran support systems.Using securely linked administrative data, the project will examine the incidence of suicidality among ex-serving Australian Defence Force veterans known to DVA between 2017 and 2022. It will investigate the health pathways veterans use before and after a suicide crisis and examine the mental health, physical health, sociodemographic and service-related factors associated with ongoing suicidality, suicide death and recovery.The project will also explore patterns of health service use, including contacts with hospitals, emergency departments, public mental health services, Medicare-funded care, pharmaceutical services and DVA-funded supports such as Open Arms. By bringing these data together, the study aims to build a more complete understanding of veterans' experiences across the health system and identify opportunities to strengthen care.
Why this research is important
Preventing suicide and improving responses to suicidality are national priorities for veteran health and wellbeing. Although considerable research has focused on suicide deaths, much less is known about the broader experiences of suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and self-harm, or how veterans move through Australia's complex health and support systems before and after a suicide crisis. Veterans often receive care from hospitals, general practitioners, mental health services, DVA, Open Arms and other support services throughout their lives. While each service holds valuable information, no single organisation has the complete picture of a veteran's health journey. This makes it difficult to understand how services work together, where support is working well and where improvements may be needed. Linked administrative data provides a unique opportunity to examine these real-world pathways and identify patterns that cannot be observed through individual datasets alone. By securely linking de-identified information from multiple health and administrative datasets, this research will provide a more complete understanding of veterans' experiences across the health system. Looking across these systems allows researchers to identify patterns that cannot be observed in any one dataset alone, helping us better understand common health service pathways before and after suicide crisescharacteristics associated with increased risk of ongoing suicidality, suicide death and re-presentation to services factors associated with improved outcomes and recovery where there may be gaps or missed opportunities for care opportunities to strengthen early intervention and suicide prevention; andhow health and wellbeing outcomes can be improved for veterans and their families.
How this research could help veterans
The central objective of this project is to generate applied research that strengthens understanding of veteran mental health, suicidality and wellbeing, while identifying opportunities to improve outcomes for veterans and their families. Consistent with the Department of Veterans' Affairs' focus on supporting wellbeing alongside illness, the project will provide new evidence about how veterans interact with health and support services to inform future service planning and delivery. The findings from this research will be used by the Department of Veterans' Affairs to inform mental health policy, programs and service delivery for veterans experiencing suicidality. In doing so, the project aims to increase the evidence base used to support DVA services, improve awareness of emerging issues affecting veterans, and contribute to better health and wellbeing outcomes for veterans and their families. Funding for this work has been provided by Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Funding for this project was provided by the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA). Any future work associated with the project will be subject to ongoing review processes to ensure compliance with all relevant legal, privacy, and ethical requirements
