The aim of this Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) was to assess the evidence related to outreach services for increasing quality of life, promoting access to services, and increasing functioning and mental health among adults with PTSD, depression, anxiety, adjustment disorder, alcohol-use disorder, or substance-use disorder.

The Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme Key Findings is the final of eight reports and two papers comprising the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme. It summarises and consolidates the overall key findings from each of the three interrelated studies that make up the Programme: the Mental Health and Wellbeing Transition Study, the Impact of Combat Study and the Family Wellbeing Study.

This Programme constitutes a unique and valuable source of information about those who have recently transitioned from Regular ADF service (between 2010 and 2014), those who were still serving in the Regular (full-time) ADF in 2015, and those who have served on contemporary operations.

A further unique component of this Programme is its examination of the mental and physical health of ADF Reservists, in particular Abinitio Reservists who have never served in the Regular ADF.

It is also the first Australian study to specifically examine the impact of military service (not operation specific) and transition on ADF family members (partners, parents and children), whereby data were collected on both the serving member and their nominated family members contemporaneously.

The key findings presented in this report represent an overall summary of the Programme findings and should be considered in the context of prior Australian and international reports on mental health and wellbeing in both military and veteran populations.

The aim of this Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) was to: 1) examine the scientific literature for evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to promote self-managed physical activity in service veterans and/or their dependants; 2) assess studies that compared the effectiveness of ‘stepped-down’ models of PA self-management to ‘usual care’ controls and; 3) identify key behaviour change techniques that have been used in these studies to successfully promote physical activity change.

The Impact of Combat Report examines the changes over time in the mental, physical and neurocognitive health and wellbeing of participants of the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) Prospective Health Study who deployed to the MEAO between 2010 and 2012. It represents the third wave of data collection for this cohort.

This report is part of the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, which is the most comprehensive study undertaken in Australia on the impact of military service on the mental, physical and social health of serving and ex-serving ADF members and their families. The Programme is made up of three studies, with this report being the sole report under the Impact of Combat Study. The other two studies are the Mental Health and Wellbeing Transition Study and the Family Wellbeing Study.

The Government greatly appreciates the contribution of the serving and ex-serving members who took the time to participate in the study. Overall, results of the study suggest that the majority of the MEAO deployed cohort is healthy. Rates of psychological and physical symptoms and disorder increased over time in the cohort, however, the substantial majority remained below screening thresholds. 

The Mental health changes over time: a longitudinal perspective report examines the shifts in mental health status over a five-year period (2010–2014) in those who have transitioned out of regular, full-time military service compared with those who remain in the Regular Australian Defence Force (ADF).

This report is part of the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, which is the most comprehensive study undertaken in Australia on the impact of military service on the mental, physical and social health of serving and ex-serving ADF members and their families. The Programme is made up of three studies, with this report comprising part of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Transition Study. The other two studies are Impact of combat and Family wellbeing.

This Mental Health Prevalence Report is the first of eight reports and two papers that comprise the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme (the Programme). The Programme is the most comprehensive study undertaken in Australia on the impact of military service on the mental, physical and social health of Transitioned and 2015 Regular Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and their families (the study populations).

This report investigates the prevalence of 12-month and lifetime mental disorders, trauma exposure, suicidal ideation and self-reported mental health symptoms among Transitioned ADF members. Comparisons are also made between the self-reported mental health symptoms in Transitioned ADF with 2015 Regular ADF members and where possible, with the Australian Community.

The second report in the Programme, Pathways to Care, tells the next phase in the ADF mental health story by investigating how Transitioned ADF and 2015 Regular ADF members access, use and value mental health care services.

The Physical Health Status Report provides a comprehensive, high-level overview of the physical health and wellbeing of ADF personnel who transitioned between January 2010 and December 2014 and members of the 2015 Regular ADF in connection with several key health outcomes previously found to be of importance among deployed and non-deployed military and veteran populations in Australia and internationally.

This report is part of the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme (TWRP), which is the most comprehensive study undertaken in Australia on the impact of military service on the mental, physical and social health of serving and ex-serving ADF members and their families. The Programme is made up of three studies, with this report comprising part of the Mental Health and Transition Study. The other two studies are Impact of Combat and Family Wellbeing.

This study investigated the health of Australian veterans of deployments on United Nations sanctioned peacekeeping missions to Rwanda, Somalia, Cambodia, Namibia, Western Sahara and East Timor over the period 1989-2002.

The study examined the long-term effect of peacekeeping on the mental and physical health status, health service use and quality of life of veterans who had transitioned out of full-time service.

The study found that 65% of peacekeepers reported they were in good, very good, or excellent health.  However, 30% of peacekeepers had at least one diagnosable mental health condition.

The research provides a better understanding of the long-term pathways to care and usage of health care services for peacekeepers.

The Family Wellbeing Study focuses on how families are faring at two of the major stages of a military career: during service, and in the first years after the transition to civilian life. An additional focus is how differing types of family members are faring — spouses/partners, adult children and parents.

This report is part of the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, which is the most comprehensive study undertaken in Australia on the impact of military service on the mental, physical and social health of serving and ex-serving ADF members and their families.

Allostatic Load: A Review of the Literature was funded under the Department of Veterans' Affairs, Applied Research Program and conducted by the Centre for Military and Veterans’ Health.

The report summarises the concepts of homeostasis, allostasis and allostatic load, how chronic stress leads to allostatic load, and examples of the physical and mental conditions which correlate with allostatic load. Allostatic load is an evolving model and only one of several models devised to examine and understand the long term health effects of stress. The model cannot explain all causes of ill-health and disease, however it is emerging as a useful model for investigating how stress experienced during military service may impact negatively on health. There are significant opportunities to improve our understanding of measurement tools and the myriad of challenges related to establishing causality between stress and longer term health outcomes.