Symposia
Suicide and Self-Injury
Dan Capron, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Brian Bauer, M.S.
Graduate Student
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Mike Anestis, PhD
Executive Director
New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center
West Piscataway, New Jersey
The suicide rate in the National Guard is higher than most active-duty components and many guard members are unlikely to seek out mental health services. Consistent with research on “warrior culture”, one potential method to increase treatment seeking behavior is to identify at-risk soldiers by focusing on non-stigmatized, or ideally, positively perceived traits that are nonetheless associated with increased suicide risk. Fearlessness about death and increased pain tolerance are two possible constructs that meet these criteria, and together these constructs contribute to the increased capability for suicide.
Behavioral economics takes psychological phenomena and behavioral assumptions into account (e.g., cognitive biases) when attempting to understand human decision-making, which often includes decisions that go against one’s interests. The field of behavioral economics has been successful in anticipating human decision-making errors and using techniques (e.g., social norm nudges, targeting others, reciprocal concessions, reducing barriers) to help increase the probability of desired outcomes, including treatment seeking. This project utilizes a novel behavioral economics intervention that is consistent with “warrior culture” recommendations.
Methods
112 National Guard members with elevated suicide capability (Acquired Capability for Suicide Scales-Fearlessness about Death subscale scores > 17) will be randomized to receive a 10 minute intervention session either: 1) Using behavioral economics (active) or 2) Standard descriptive feedback (control) to initiate positive changes in a behavior that is meaningful to them, but that also has suicide relevance.
Results
N=87 participants have completed the study so far (112 expected by November 2022). Pilot results indicate participants in the active condition are seven times more likely to respond to warrior culture messaging and five times more likely to engage in treatment following the intervention (p < .001).
Conclusions
Behavioral economics has been underutilized in clinical psychology. These brief interventions have great potential to be harnessed for increasing treatment motivation for cognitive-behavioral therapies.