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The dramatic evolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs) online and on smartphones has led to rapid innovations in behavioral health care. To assist the U.S. Air Force in developing a strategy for use of ICTs, the authors reviewed the scientific literature on their use to prevent and treat behavioral health conditions, such as major depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and alcohol misuse. There is currently little scientific evidence supporting additional investment in ICT-based psychosocial programs for resilience or prevention of posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, or anxiety. Instead, preventive interventions might prioritize problems of alcohol misuse and intimate partner violence. ICT applications that play a role in the treatment process may be used for patient education and activation, to improve decisionmaking by clinicians, to provide a therapy, to improve adherence to treatment, or to maintain treatment gains over time. However, partly due to the rapid pace of development of the technology, there is little or no evidence in the literature regarding the efficacy of the most recently developed types of ICTs, in particular those using smartphones. Despite the lack of solid research evidence to date, ICTs hold promise in addressing the challenges of mental health care. One promising avenue is development of reliable methods for patient-clinician communication between therapy sessions; another is Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy. The authors recommend that the Air Force should take an incremental approach to adopting the use of ICTs—one that involves a program of measurement-based implementation and process and outcome monitoring rather than urgent dissemination.

Medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) are persistent idiopathic symptoms that drive patients to seek medical care. MUPS syndromes include chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivities. When MUPS occur after an environmental exposure or injury, an adversarial social context that we call "contested causation" may ensue. Contested causation may occur publicly and involve media controversy, scientific disagreement, political debate, and legal struggles. This adversarial social context may diminish the effectiveness of the provider-patient relationship. Contested causation also may occur privately, when disagreement over the causes of MUPS takes place in the patient-provider context. These patient-provider disagreements over causation often occur because of the enigmatic nature of MUPS. We suggest that a context of contested causation may have serious negative effects on healthcare for individuals with MUPS. Context plays a larger role in MUPS care than it does for most medical care because of the uncertain nature of MUPS, the reliance of standard MUPS therapies on a potentially tenuous patient-provider partnership, and the clinical need to rely routinely on subjective MUPS assessments that often yield discordant patient and provider conclusions. Contested causation may erode patient-provider trust, test the provider's self-assurance and capacity to share power with the patient, and raise problematic issues of compensation, reparation, and blame. These issues may distract patients and providers from therapeutic goals. In occupational and military settings, the adverse impact of contested causation on the patient-provider partnership may diminish therapeutic effectiveness to a greater degree than it does in other medical settings. Contested causation therefore raises questions regarding generalizability of standard therapies for MUPS and related syndromes to these settings. Future research is needed to learn whether intuitively sensible and evidence-based MUPS therapies ...

Excessive alcohol use, especially binge and heavy drinking, represents a serious threat to force readiness across the Department of Defense. Though these behaviors are a matter of individual service member choice, they are influenced by perceptions of the culture of alcohol use in the military. This paper uses data from the 2018 Health Related Behaviors Survey of Active Duty service members to explore associations between perceived alcohol culture and excessive alcohol use, any serious drinking consequences, risky driving behaviors, productivity loss due to drinking, absenteeism, and presenteeism. Results from multivariate logistic regression reveal a strong, positive correlation between positive perceptions of drinking culture in the military and all outcomes. Targeting perceptions of the drinking culture is one way the military can reduce excessive and unhealthy use of alcohol and negative sequelae.

BACKGROUND: Despite the growing consensus that collaborative care is effective, limited research has focused on the importance of collaborative care fidelity as it relates to mental health clinical outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship of collaborative care fidelity on symptom trajectories and clinical outcomes among military service members enrolled in a multi-site randomized controlled trial for the treatment of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). DESIGN: Study data for our analyses came from a two-parallel arm randomized trial that evaluated the effectiveness of a centralized collaborative care model compared to the existing collaborative care model for the treatment of PTSD and depression. All patients were included in the analyses to evaluate how longitudinal trajectories of PTSD and depression scores differed across various collaborative care fidelity groupings. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 666 US Military Service members screening positive for probable PTSD or depression through primary care. MAIN MEASURES: Disease registry data from a web-based clinical management support tool was used to measure collaborative care fidelity for patients enrolled in the trial. Participant depression and PTSD symptoms were collected independently from research survey assessments at four time points across the 1-year trial period. Treatment utilization records were acquired from the Military Health System administrative records to determine mental health service use. KEY RESULTS: Consistent and late fidelity to the collaborative care model predicted an improving symptom trajectory over the course of treatment. This effect was more pronounced for patients with depression than for patients with PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term fidelity to key collaborative care elements throughout care episodes may improve depression outcomes, particularly for patients with elevated symptoms. More controlled research is needed to further understand the influence of collaborative care fidelity on clinical outcomes. TRIAL ...

Abstract Background: The US military is currently involved in large, lengthy, and complex combat operations around the world. Effective military operations require optimal health of deployed service members, and both mental and physical health can be affected by military operations. Methods: Baseline data were collected from 77,047 US service members during 2001–2003 as part of a large, longitudinal, population-based military health study (the Millennium Cohort Study). The authors calculated unadjusted, adjusted, and weighted means for the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-item Survey for Veterans physical (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores over a variety of demographic and military characteristics at baseline. Results: The unadjusted mean PCS and MCS scores for this study were 53.4 (95% confidence interval: 53.3–53.4) and 52.8 (95% confidence interval: 52.7–52.9). Average PCS and MCS scores were slightly more favorable in this military sample compared to those of the US general population of the same age and sex. Factors independently associated with more favorable health status included male gender, being married, higher educational attainment, higher military rank, and Air Force service. Combat specialists had similar health status compared to other military occupations. Having been deployed to Southwest Asia, Bosnia, or Kosovo between 1998 and 2000 was not associated with diminished health status. Conclusion: The baseline health status of this large population-based military cohort is better than that of the US general population of the same age and sex distribution over the same time period, especially in older age groups. Deployment experiences during the period of 1998–2001 were not associated with decreased health status. These data will serve as a useful reference for other military health studies and for future longitudinal analyses.

RAND researchers review survey methods, sample demographics, key findings, and policy implications from the 2015 Health Related Behaviors Survey of active-duty service members.