The Department of Defence, with the support of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Council, commissioned Monash University to undertake a statistical study into the health of current and former Australian Defence Force firefighters who served from 1980 to 2013.

The Defence Firefighters' Health Study report is part of the Australian Firefighters' Health Study (available on the Monash University website, under heading "Study Results").

All queries about this research should be directed to the Department of Defence.

The Cancer Incidence Study 2003: Australian Veterans of the Korean War was initiated by the Australian Government in May 2001.

The Cancer Incidence Study compared the rates of cancers among the Korean War veteran population with the rates of comparable cancers among the general Australian male population of the same age.

The findings of the Study, conducted by the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare.

The Health Study 2005: Australian Veterans of the Korean War is the third and final study in a series of studies of the health of Australian Korean War veterans. The reports for first two studies, the Cancer Incidence Study and the Mortality Study, were released in 2003. The three studies constitute a major study program of health in this Australian veteran population and represent one of the most comprehensive investigations of health ever conducted in an entire veteran group.

Health Study 2005: Australian Veterans of the Korean War was prompted by recommendations from the first two studies concerning the need for a general health survey of Australian Korean War veterans. The study compared surviving male Korean War veterans with a group of men of similar age who were resident in Australia at the time of the Korean War but who did not serve in Korea.

The study was commissioned by the Repatriation Commission, managed by the Department of Veterans' Affairs and conducted by Monash University.

This report overviews and contextualises the Mental Health and Wellbeing Transition Study methodology, describes the study populations and presents the key findings from the first two technical reports of the Study, Mental Health Prevalence and Pathways to Care. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Transition Study is one of three studies that comprise the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) commissioned Dr Samantha Crompvoets to lead a study in 2009 into the health and wellbeing of female Vietnam and contemporary veterans. The study was completed in 2012. The report’s findings were based on in-depth interviews with 60 female veterans and 30 workers in the female veteran health and wellbeing field, as well as reviews of previous research.

The ADF Service Women Steering Committee report and joint Defence/DVA response 

The Departments of Veterans’ Affairs and Defence jointly established the ADF Service Women Steering Committee (the Committee) to provide recommendations for improving Defence and DVA services for current and former ADF members. The Committee’s membership included current and former soldiers, sailors and air women (regular/permanent and reserve).

The Committee considered Dr Crompvoets’ report and discussed practical ways to improve current and former ADF service women’s access to services.

The Committee concluded that there are no major gaps evident in Defence or DVA services for current and former ADF service women, but identified that there was a lack of awareness by women of available support and services.

The Committee also found that significant changes have occurred with the services provided by Defence and DVA during and since Dr Crompvoets’ study that have enhanced care and support for contemporary veterans, including female veterans, and their families.

The Committee made 24 recommendations. DVA and Defence have accepted the majority of the Committee’s recommendations and will continue to work together to improve responsiveness to the needs of women who serve or have served our nation.

The ADF Service Women Steering Committee

With approximately 14 per cent of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) being female, female veterans are making up an increasing proportion of DVA clients. In 2012, an average of 345 females served on overseas operations at any given time, with their roles including logistics, health, communications, transport, signals, engineering and intelligence. The start of 2013 saw the ADF open all employment categories to servicewomen and a new Army recruitment campaign to increase the number of women serving over the next 12 months.

More than 11 000 veterans with one or more accepted conditions under any Act administered by DVA are female. In the last few years the Department has significantly improved services for contemporary veterans, including female veterans. DVA and Defence have also recognised that female veterans have unique requirements and so have established an ADF Service Women Steering Committee to inform both departments of the specific needs of women.

The committee is co-chaired by Gayle Anderson, Assistant Secretary Service Development and Defence Relations Branch (DVA) and MAJGEN Gerard Fogarty AO, Head of People Capability, Defence. Membership includes female current and former serving members (both regular and reserve) who have deployed on operations to Somalia, Timor Leste, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The committee is considering a broad range of information, including research by Dr Samantha Crompvoets of the Australian National University which was funded through DVA’s Applied Research Program. The study, completed in 2012, was commissioned to look at the needs of the growing number of female veterans. The report from this study into the health and wellbeing of female Vietnam and contemporary veterans is available on the DVA website.

The ADF Service Women Steering Committee has met three times between May 2013 and 30 June 2013 and will continue to meet regularly until August 2013, after which the Committee will report to the Repatriation and Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commissions with recommendations to further guide service design.

DVA commissioned this study in 2011 to gain a better understanding of the experiences of reservists. The field-based component of the study consisted of face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 39 ADF reservists, primarily from the Army with a smaller number from the Air Force. The text-based component centred on a review of the academic literature, as well as a review of historical documents and an inventory of support services available to reservists.

The study found that reservists vary in the way they understand their reservist identity. Some identify more with a ‘full-timer’ identity and feel a close connection with ADF membership and military skills, while some identify more as a ‘part-timer’ and place stronger emphasis on their civilian professional skills. The researcher found that the extent to which reservists identify with the ADF can affect outcomes including their health and wellbeing, cohesion with their unit and accessing of support services.

The reservists study has provided DVA with useful information about the experiences and needs of a sample of contemporary reservists. As a qualitative pilot study, the report is exploratory in nature. It does not quantify the extent to which the views expressed by the participants would be shared among reservists and reservist veterans more generally. Nevertheless, the report provides a useful understanding of issues experienced by the reservists interviewed and identified in the academic literature.

The report has informed DVA’s understanding of how reservists identify and the potential implications of this for DVA’s communication and engagement with reservists. It has also informed a focus on reservists in planning future DVA research. On 11 June 2014, the Government announced a joint DVA/Defence Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme which includes a nested study on reservists.

Reservists can access similar DVA support and services to those available to Permanent ADF members. For details on reservists’ entitlements, please see DVA website and/or the Claims for reservists. Reservists who are in doubt about what DVA services or support they could access are encouraged to contact DVA.

The aim of this review was to determine the prevalence rate of substance use disorder in contemporary ex-serving veterans. Specifically, nicotine, alcohol, drug, and non-specified substance use disorder prevalence rates will be reviewed.

This aim of this review was to assess the current standing of public and self-anti-stigma interventions and investigate what has been shown to be an effective intervention to reduce stigma at the public and individual level.

The aim of this review was to examine the evidence for the effectiveness of a number of therapies considered to be emerging interventions for the treatment of adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Three broad categories of emerging interventions for the treatment of adults with PTSD were considered. These included psychological interventions (mindfulness and power therapies), physical therapies (acupuncture), and a range of experiential psychotherapies including adventure therapy, art therapy, music therapy, or animal therapy (canine therapy, equine therapy).

This literature review examines the evidence for the prevalence of risk-taking behavior by children of former or current military personnel. Risk-taking behavior is examined by focusing on the evidence for high-risk drinking, illicit drug use and pharmaceutical misuse, dangerous driving, unsafe sex, crime, delinquency and school absenteeism.