Joint Health Command

ADF Mental Health Research and Surveillance Plan

To better align the mental health and surveillance research conducted within Defence, the Health Psychology Research Section within the Psychology Research and Technology Group has been transferred across to the Directorate of Mental Health.   The retitled Research and Surveillance Section’s goal is to contribute to improvements in the mental health and wellbeing of ADF personnel by conducting research in support of the ADF mental health strategy, post deployment screening and mental health services provided to ADF members.

The main tasks of the Section include:

1. Scanning and managing all deployment related mental health screening data;
2. Providing routine deployment related mental health screening and surveillance reports and ad hoc data summaries based on Return to Australia (RtAPS) and Post Operational (POPS) Psychological Screening of ADF members;
3. Undertaking psychometric and evaluation studies of mental health screening instruments;
4. Providing client sponsored research and project evaluation support;
5. Supporting mental health research governance, coordination and representation; and
6. Contributing to the information management and system development of mental health support processes.

29 September, 2009