Many federal programs aimed at preventing psychological problems for military service members and their
families have not been evaluated correctly to determine whether they are working or supported by science, says a new report commissioned by theDefense Department.
"A lot of their programs don't have any good data behind them," said Kenneth Warner, a professor of public health at the University of Michigan who led the Institute of Medicine committee that producedthe report. "We remain uncertain about which approaches work and which ones are ineffective."
The report was especially critical of the Pentagon's biggest and costliest prevention program, known as Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness, which is used throughout the Army.
Based on the principles of positive psychology, it includes training in assertiveness, negotiation and coping strategies such as maintaining an optimistic outlook on life. About 900,000 soldiers receive the training each year at a cost of $50 million. The program was recently expanded to include families of service members.
The Army has portrayed it as a success based on internal reviews that found soldiers saw small improvements on some measures of psychological health.
But the medical committee concluded that the gains were not clinically meaningful. The program did not reduce rates of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
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