Public Battles: The U.S. Military's Digital Messaging on Behavioral Health and Violence Prevention

This study examined how the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and military branches disseminate information about behavioral health topics, including sexual assault and harassment, mental health, resilience, substance use, suicide, and other violence-related issues, through their official media platforms and online newsletters. This is key since a significant number of military personnel experience these issues, yet available health services remain underutilized. The goal is to analyze the frequency, timing, and content of the DoD, military branches, and installations' messaging around these behavioral health topics across their digital communication channels.

Researchers manually collected data from official social media accounts (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) and online newsletters of the DoD, military branches, and installations from January to November 2021. Data was coded for behavioral health topics, content types, and evidence-based interventions. Engagement metrics were also analyzed for social media posts. The Institutional Review Board of New York University approved the study protocol.

The study found notable variations in how frequently different behavioral health topics were addressed across the DoD, military branches, and installations, with sexual assault and harassment, mental health, and suicide prevention being the most prevalent. Messaging often aligned with designated awareness months. The most common content shared about the included behavioral health topics focused on providing information and details about available services, although fewer posts addressed military culture, policies, or program/initiative effectiveness. Social media engagement was highest for mental health, sexual assault and harassment, and suicide-related topics.

The findings suggest a lack of coordination and standardization in the military's digital health communication strategies, which can lead to ineffective and undesired outcomes. This study has also identified missed opportunities in military digital communications to leverage evidence-based best practices. Recommendations include developing a cohesive, systematic framework to guide consistent, effective messaging across branches and platforms to better reach and engage the military population on critical behavioral health issues. Although the study provides valuable insights, limitations include its manual data collection process, single-year timeframe, and focus on only three social media platforms. Future studies should expand the scope by including other social media platforms with distinct user demographics and engagement patterns, as well as extended timeframes, to better understand the full landscape of military digital health communication.