Target Suicide

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LHI and Target: Reduce suicide rates from 11.3 to 10.2 per 100,000 population Target Population: Veteran population >18 years of age in the United States Determinants: Demographic (age, gender, race/ethnicity) and socio-economic status (education, unemployment, income, housing status) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines suicide as "death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with any intent to die as a result of the behavior" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], n.d.a). In 2013, suicide ranked as the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and claimed more than 41,000 American lives, making it a significant public health priority (Murphy, Xu, & Kochanek, 2014). Reducing suicide rates …show more content…

More than 69 percent of all veteran suicides were among individuals 50 years or older compared to 37 percent among those individuals not identified as veterans (Kemp & Bossarte, 2014). In 2013, the highest suicide rate in the United States (19.7 per 100,000) was among individuals 45 to 54 years old and the second highest rate (18.6 per 100,000) occurred in individuals 85 years and older (CDC, n.d.d). Within the veteran population, males accounted for more than 97% of all suicides among veterans compared to 74 percent among those identified as non-veterans (Kemp & Bossarte, 2014). While it is significant to note that 93 percent of the veteran population is male, female veterans are also twice as likely to commit suicide than women who have never served (CDC, n.d.d). Suicides occurred at a four times higher rate among men (20.2 per 100,000) than women (5.5 per 100,000) within the general US population in 2013. Among racial and ethnic groups, the suicide rate was highest for non-Hispanic whites in those identified as veteran as well as the general population (Kemp & Bossarte, 2014; CDC, …show more content…

The VA is awaiting data from additional states in order to provide more accurate statistics. Another limitation is the reliability of suicide data and veteran status derived from death certificates as this information is often obtained from family members or collected by funeral home staff and not validated through another system (Kemp & Bossarte, 2014). Lack of accurate veteran population data and difficulty tracking veterans has also been noted as approximately half of the veteran population does not receive healthcare through VA facilities and there is not an accurate surveillance method for those veterans not within the system (United States Department of Veterans Affairs [VA], n.d.). Ideally data would be readily available for tracking suicides as a cause of death and it would be easy to determine if an individual was a veteran, however, this is not the

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