POLICE ASSOCIATION OF NOVA SCOTIA 79 Attempted suicides Suicide attempts are taken seriously by the CAF. The chain of command, including the Chief of the Defence Staff, is alerted to possible attempted suicides through a variety of mechanisms, including unit significant incident reports and reports from military police or third-party authorities. Each attempted suicide reported to the chain of command is recorded and monitored to ensure we are doing all we can to support the member and to ensure that the health care team and the chain of command are working together to provide the best possible outcome for the ongoing safety and care of the member. The reporting route of an attempted suicide depends on the first responder. For privacy and patient confidentiality reasons, the doctors within Canadian Forces Health Services (CFHS) do not report attempted suicides unless the patient provides consent to release that information. The intent of the reporting is to formally review care provided to members to ensure the member is receiving the best possible care and to help better understand suicidal behaviour. The number of reported attempts cannot be used as statistical rates of attempted suicide. There is no common medical definition of 'suicide attempt' and reported attempts may vary from simple calls for help, to actual self-injury and other motivations.Thus, the number of reported suicide attempts does not represent the actual situation nor the complexity of the issue. Suicide rates The figures in Table B originate with the Directorate of Force Health Protection, and are based on the information collected by theAdministrative Investigation Support Centre. These figures include male Regular Force personnel only. The values in Table B are calculated at a rate per 100 000, like those provided by Statistics Canada for the general Canadian population. Consistent with accepted research methodology, the CAF compares and monitors the number of suicides over a five-year period in order to determine if fluctuations are random or statistically significant. The suicide rate in Regular Force Males in 2010-14 increased compared to previous five-year periods.While suicide affects all components of the CAF, this increase is due to the increased suicide rate amongst those serving within the Canadian Army (CA), the rate being two to three times higher than those serving with other Commands. One of the risk factors behind this finding is the increased rate of Operational Stress Injuries, like PTSD, in groups who deployed to high threat locations. This is more likely to apply to personnel within theArmy. Suicide and suicide prevention in the Canadian Armed Forces (continued) (continued) Person time is defined as “a measurement combining person and time as the denominator in incidence and mortality rates when, for varying periods, individual subjects are at risk of developing disease or dying. It is the sum of the periods of time at risk for each of the subjects. The most widely used measure is person-years,” (A Dictionary of Epidemiology. M Porta, Greenland S, Last JM, eds. Fifth Edition. NewYork (USA): Oxford UP, 2008.)
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