TELEPHONE HOTLINE ASSESSMENT AND COUNSELING OF SUICIDAL MILITARY SERVICE VETERANS IN THE USA

Studies show that suicide occurs more frequently among people who are elderly, male, single, divorced or widowed, alienated, and among those with a Life-threatening illness. Military service veterans are not sp ared these conditions; in some respect, they represent the 'down and o ut', the lonely and, increasingly, the older isolated people. This cor relational descriptive study sought to identify the characteristic pro file of telephone hotline users among veterans, their triggering crisi s events, and whether the methods commonly used in suicide attempts re late to certain types of crisis. The random sample consisted of 271 ve terans of the US military service, ranging in age from 20 to 79 years. Data were collected from nursing notes documented in the hotline suic ide telephone call assessment records. The findings portray a sociodem ographic profile of military veterans at risk of suicide attempts. Lon eliness, alcoholism and unemployment topped the list of triggering eve nts. The most common method used was drug overdose; shooting was a clo se second. These findings could serve as a base for development of sui cide-prevention-focused programmes and optimal use of telephone hotlin es for assessment and timely intervention of persons in great crisis.