The Australian Gulf War Veterans’ Health Study was the first comprehensive health study of a group of Australian War veterans involved in a single theatre of war.

It was conducted by a collaborative medical research team from the Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine at Monash University, Health Services Australia Ltd, the University of Western Australia, and The Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health at the University of Melbourne.

As part of the Australian Gulf War Veterans' Health Study (published in 2003), serum samples were collected from consenting participants, for long-term storage and future potential research. In 2005, a Serum Management Committee (the Committee) was established to provide oversight of the stored samples.

The aim of this review was to examine the efficacy of stepped care for the treatment of adults with depression or anxiety disorders. In consultation with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (DVA) a number of focal conditions were identified and the evidence to support the use of stepped care in the treatment of these was reviewed. This was an iterative process between ACPMH and DVA to capture the conditions of most relevance to DVA. The conditions initially identified were depressive disorders and anxiety disorders (i.e. GAD and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)); however, an initial search of the literature suggested that other anxiety disorders such as OCD might also be considered, as well as anxiety disorders and symptoms thereof taken together.

The aim of the current review was to examine the scientific literature for evidence of effective interventions for veterans with sleep disturbances. It is important to note that guidelines and several systematic reviews exist for the treatment of insomnia in adults however; there were no specific guidelines or systematic reviews pertaining to the treatment of sleep disturbances and/or insomnia in veterans specifically. Findings from civilian adult populations may not necessarily apply to veterans, who differ from community samples in several ways, including higher rates of psychiatric disorders and military-related causes of sleep disturbances. As such, veterans with sleep disturbances may differ in response to treatment compared to a community population.

Despite increasing numbers of veterans returning from deployment with problematic anger and aggression, the treatment of anger within this population has not been thoroughly investigated. In contrast to areas of research such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there has been comparatively little attention directed toward other less clinically prominent behavioural outcomes of combat exposure that still have the potential to adversely impact the health and well-being of returning service members. The aim of this Rapid Evidence Assessment was to examine the scientific literature for evidence of effective interventions veterans with problematic anger and aggression.

In the past decade there has been growing recognition of the psychosocial factors that increase vulnerability to chronic pain, and a shift towards focusing on psychological interventions that may address some of these vulnerabilities. The aim of the current review was to examine the efficacy of psychological interventions and multi-modal interventions that include a psychological component, for the treatment of chronic pain. This REA focused on those categories of psychological and multi-modal therapies that are most commonly used to treat chronic pain in adults, and which were identified as being of most relevance to DVA. Specifically, the REA examined literature relating to the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), multidisciplinary pain management programs (MPMPs), mindfulness-based interventions and behavioural therapy.