Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Predicting Suicide Risk in Trauma Exposed Veterans: The Role of Health Promoting Behaviors.

DeBeer BB, Kittel JA, Cook A, Davidson D, Kimbrel NA, Meyer EC, Gulliver SB, Morissette SB. Predicting Suicide Risk in Trauma Exposed Veterans: The Role of Health Promoting Behaviors. PLoS ONE. 2016 Dec 21; 11(12):e0167464.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: Returning veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan experience high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicidal behavior. Suicidal ideation is among the strongest risk factors for completed suicide. Some research suggests an association between PTSD and suicidal ideation, and that health-promoting behaviors-behaviors that sustain or increase well-being-play a role in this association. The current study examined whether health-promoting behaviors moderate the association between PTSD severity and suicidal ideation. METHODS: Veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF; N = 108) completed measures of PTSD symptoms, trauma exposure, suicidal ideation, and health-promoting behaviors. RESULTS: Moderated regression was used to test the hypothesis. Results indicated that health promoting behaviors, = -.06, p = .001, and PTSD symptoms, = .36, p < .001, were significantly related to suicidal ideation. Consistent with our main hypothesis, the health promoting behaviors x PTSD interaction term was significantly associated with suicidal ideation, = -.09, p = .001. The overall model accounted for 13% of the variance in suicidal ideation. Among individuals with high PTSD symptom severity, those who engaged in more health promoting behaviors reported less suicidal ideation than those who engaged in fewer health promoting behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Health-promoting behaviors could be important for reducing suicidal ideation among veterans with high levels of PTSD symptoms. It is recommended that future research examine health promotion interventions as a means of reducing suicidal ideation.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.