Evaluating Active Duty Risk-Taking: Military Home, Education, Activity, Drugs, Sex, Suicide, and Safety Method

Psychosocial screening tools are routinely used by adolescent medicine providers to evaluate risk-taking behaviors and resiliency. A large number of U.S. military service members are adolescents, and many engage in behaviors that cause morbidity and death, such as tobacco use and binge drinking. Health care providers should consider the regular use of a psychosocial screening method to evaluate risk-taking behavior. The Home, Education, Activity, Drugs, Sex, Suicide, and Safety method is used to evaluate the home environment, educational and employment situations, activities, drug use, sexual activity, suicide, and safety during health care visits. This technique, originally created for a civilian adolescent population, can be used with minimal adjustments to evaluate behaviors of military service members.