Executive Summary: Help-seeking for alcohol problems in serving and ex-serving UK military personnel

Abstract: Alcohol has a long tradition in the military. Research has shown that alcohol misuse among serving and ex-serving military personnel in the US and UK is increased compared to general population estimates, and that patterns of high consumption continue once personnel leave Service. Despite high levels of alcohol use, help-seeking for alcohol problems among UK and US military and ex-military populations is routinely lower than for other mental health, emotional or general medical problems. This may be due to low recognition of alcohol problems among serving and ex-serving personnel. To date, there have been few UK studies looking at recognition of, and help-seeking for, alcohol problems among serving and ex-serving military populations. The aims of this project were to: • review the prior literature on recognition of alcohol misuse problems among civilian and serving and ex-serving military populations to understand how common recognition is • identify what proportion of serving and ex-serving personnel recognise they have an alcohol misuse problem and what are the characteristics of those more likely to recognise and therefore selfreport an alcohol problem, including mental health comorbidity • identify what proportion of personnel who self-report an alcohol problem seek help and determine which factors, including having a comorbid mental health problem, are associated with help-seeking • understand help-seeking, adherence to treatment, and perceptions of treatment for self-reported mental health problems among personnel who are also misusing alcohol