2011 Health Related Behaviors Survey of Active Duty Military Personnel

Abstract : The 2011 Health Related Behaviors Survey of Active Duty Military Personnel (HRB) is the largest survey that anonymously gathers data on some of the most important behavioral health issues affecting the well-being of the U.S. military. The HRB provides an assessment of issues such as substance use and abuse, stress, posttraumatic stress symptoms, depressive symptoms, possible traumatic brain injury, resilience, sexual and physical abuse history, and deployment-related outcomes from a representative sample of active duty members in each branch of the Department of Defense (DoD) services - the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force as well as the United States Coast Guard (USCG), herein collectively referred to as the Armed Forces. The anonymous nature of the survey, coupled with the statistically-valid selection of a representative sample of service members, enables the Armed Forces to measure the prevalence rates of health behaviors. While DoD, each of the DoD Services, and USCG collect administrative data on the outcomes or consequences of maladaptive health behaviors (e.g., number referred to substance abuse treatment), these administrative data often represent a small fraction of the problem, and underscore the need for self-reported measurement of the prevalence rates of these behaviors. The HRB survey ascertains estimates (+/- a small margin of error) of the prevalence of these behaviors, and as a result, provides the Armed Forces a data source that complements, but cannot be duplicated with, administrative records. The data collected over the past 30 years of this survey have been used by military leadership at all levels to make important policy and programmatic changes. Since its inception, the HRB survey has had a substantial impact on the military health field.