Understanding Veteran Suicide by Firearm

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death with 42,773 reported deaths in the United States in 2014, half of those by firearm. Although veterans comprise only 13% of the U.S. population, they account for 20% of all suicide deaths. About 67% of these deaths are by firearm in the veteran population, compared to about 50% in the general public. Although researchers are learning more about suicide, factors that place a person at risk for, or protect a person from suicide by firearms, are not well understood. Few studies have specifically examined survivors of an acute attempt or serious ideation of suicide with firearms among veterans. This theoretical paper aims to describe the conceptual framework, measures, lessons learned, and implications for veterans’ scholarship from a mixed methods study on veteran survivors of a suicide attempt or ideation requiring hospitalization. Using a Department of Veterans Affairs funded pilot study as an example, we present the quantitative measures and qualitative interview topics selected for use in this study. While rigorous mixed methods research requires the use of two forms of data from research participants, best practices for research administration requires maximum researcher sensitivity and protocol adherence to ensure safety for this subpopulation.