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Milestones

ASCEND Study Banner

Current Project Status


Data collection for the second national wave of ASCEND is underway. We initiated data collection in September, 2024 and anticipate we will continue to collect data through January, 2025.

The ASCEND project is ongoing and relies on your participation and input as it plans each step. With your assistance, we will ultimately:

  • Better understand factors that increase both risk and resilience for suicide
  • Improve existing suicide prevention programs
  • Create new, tailored suicide prevention programs for Veterans both in VA health care and in local communities
  • Inform public policy on both community and national levels

ASCEND study timeline

Click or tap on image to enlarge

Milestone #1

- Collected pilot data from 567 Veterans (December 2020 through February 2021)

- Findings from this pilot study were used to help us improve our study methods and the survey questions that we used in the first wave of the national survey.

Milestone #2

- Collected Wave 1 data from over 17,500 Veterans (February through July 2022) - Thank you to all the Veterans who participated!

- We are analyzing Wave 1 data and will share findings when they are available

- Findings from Wave 1 will be used to enhance suicide prevention programs and to inform our methods for future waves of ASCEND.


Next Milestones

We will reflect on our experiences and findings from Wave 1 national survey and continue to refine ASCEND.

We aim to send out new surveys every year or two.

Published ASCEND Findings


Visit the links below to read publications and more from ASCEND.

Check back for more developments - at every stage we will keep you informed and share more preliminary results as they become available.

- ASCEND for Veteran suicide prevention: Enhancing surveillance to save lives

- Veteran Engagement in Survey Research to Prevent Suicide

- A mixed methods analysis of U.S. military Veterans' suicidal ideation experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: Prevalence, correlates, and perceived impact

- The perceived impact of pandemic scale (PIPS): Initial development and examination among U.S. military Veterans

COMIRB # 20-0719 / PI: Hoffmire

Last Updated 5 November 2024

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