Rajeev Ramchand

To what degree is the suicide trend in the U.S. Army unique to that service, relative to what is observed in the general U.S. population? Researchers investigate how accounting for additional population risk factors beyond age and gender (race/ethnicity, time, marital status, and educational attainment) affects suicide rate differences between soldiers and a comparable subset of the general U.S. population.

The report categorizes school safety technologies, noting the lack of research about school safety technology and summarizing the existing research on school violence; presents six case studies of innovative technologies used in schools; and summarizes experts views of technologies and safety problems, determined through interviews; and presents experts rankings of technology needs to improve school safety, produced during two day-long panels."

This report, now in its third edition, synthesizes available scientific evidence for the effects of various firearm policies on firearm deaths, violent crime, suicides, the gun industry, defensive gun use, and other outcomes. The authors highlight policies whose effects are more rigorously and reliably demonstrated by current research, as well as areas where better information could contribute to establishing fair and effective gun policies.

RAND researchers report key findings from the 2015 Health Related Behaviors Survey of active-duty service members. The report details the survey's methodology and sample demographics, as well as policy implications. The results are intended to supplement data already collected by the Department of Defense and to inform policy initiatives to help improve the readiness, health, and well-being of the force.

Little has been reported about military caregivers the population of those who care for wounded, ill, and injured military personnel and veterans. This report summarizes the results of a study designed to describe the magnitude of military caregiving in the United States today, as well as to identify gaps in the array of programs, policies, and initiatives designed to support military caregivers."

In this report, the authors analyze current and emerging activities to prevent veteran suicide. They introduce the RAND Suicide Prevention Activity Matrix, a framework that organizes current approaches, how they complement each other, how they might change, their evidence for preventing veteran suicide, and why they might (or might not) work. The authors then provide recommendations for organizations that implement suicide prevention strategies.

RAND researchers present findings from the qualitative arm of the America's Military and Veteran Caregivers: Hidden Heroes Emerging from the Shadows research project, sharing insights from interviews with U.S. military and veteran caregivers.

The high demand for National Guard support of domestic operations has raised concerns about potential impacts for Guard members and their families and a variety of personnel management challenges. The authors explore the National Guard's recent mission demands, identify the challenges that the pace of operations has created for members and their families, and examine what service and support programs are in place to address these challenges.

In this report, RAND researchers describe elements of a research blueprint to inform future efforts to improve support for military and veteran caregivers. To construct this blueprint, researchers inventoried research and gathered stakeholder input. The report highlights the need for more studies that examine how military and veteran caregiver needs evolve over time, how programs are working, and how caregiving affects specific subgroups.

The RAND Program Evaluation Toolkit for Countering Violent Extremism uses checklists, worksheets, and templates to help program staff design an evaluation that is appropriate for their program type, resources, and expertise and offers guidance on analyzing the resulting data to inform improvements. This report is a companion to the toolkit and provides background on its development and testing.