The Department of Defense is conducting the 2024 Health Behavior Survey among nearly 250,000 randomly selected active-duty military personnel. This year’s survey includes questions about mental and physical health, substance use and other health topics related to military readiness.
Military members selected to complete the survey will find a link in the inbox to their military email address as recorded in the Defense Enlistment Eligibility Reporting System, or DEERS. The survey is sent to a randomly selected group of active duty service members across all military branches, pay grades, races/ethnicities and ages.
Since 1980, DOD has partnered with third-party survey evaluators to assess health-related trends within the force. Typically offered every two to three years, the survey has evolved from a strict focus on substance use and abuse to a broader view of servicemembers’ overall health and well-being.
The HRBS is the Department of Defense’s flagship survey aimed at understanding the health, health-related behaviors, and well-being of servicemembers, enabling leaders to better understand the readiness of the force,” he said. said U.S. Navy Capt. Kenneth Richter, director of ppsychological hhealth for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. “Increased military participation helps develop findings that better represent the overall DOD population.”
Survey responses are confidential and participant responses are not shared with the Department of Defense or branches of service in a manner that would allow identification.
Echoing Richter’s sentiments about participating in the survey, Dr. Daniel Evatt, head of the research execution section of the Defense Health Agency’s Center of Excellence in Psychological Health, emphasized the importance of the survey in understanding the health of the force.
“If members of a particular profession or demographic group don’t have a high response rate, then we may not have a very good understanding of the needs of that group,” Evatt said. “If you are asked to respond, then your responses will help us ensure that we understand the experiences of service members like you.
Results
“Some of the key findings from the 2018 survey showed an increase over the 2015 survey in reports of health-related behaviors associated with poor outcomes. However, military members’ self-reported behaviors appeared higher or higher than the general population benchmarks set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for physical health and functioning, including obesity rates, exercise frequency, and HIV testing in groups high risk,” Richter said.
“The final results (of the survey) are read and used by policy makers, program managers and researchers, and they can help us Click to closeDirect careDirect care refers to military hospitals and clinics, also called “military treatment facilities” and “MTFs.”direct care where it is needed most,” Evatt said. “Sometimes the results tell us that a behavior problem is more or less common than previously thought. »
The survey window runs from February to April.
The DOD partnered with the RAND Corporation, a private research and analysis company, to conduct the investigation. Recipients will receive an email from 2024hrbs.com with a survey control number and a link to the home page. For more information and a detailed FAQ on the survey objective, recipients are encouraged to visit health.mil/HRBS.
