{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T14:09:56Z","timestamp":1788962996647,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788480000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Blast overpressure (BOP) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) create persistent health, readiness, and care-navigation challenges in Special Operations Forces (SOF). We conducted a stakeholder-informed needs assessment to identify priorities within an Australian SOF-affiliated community and to consider, without assuming direct generalizability, how those priorities may inform allied brain-health implementation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>An anonymous web-based convenience survey was distributed through established Australian SOF-affiliated networks (187 submitted records). The purpose-built instrument collected demographic, service, BOP-exposure, symptom-category, community-issue, audience, tool, and educational-format information. Analyses were descriptive; ranked items were summarized with weighted priority scores.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Among respondents to the nationality item, 96.2% were Australian; 97.3% of all respondents were male, and 56.6% of service-status respondents were Veterans with SOF backgrounds. Median self-reported career BOP exposure was 13.5\u202fyears. Perceived medical-knowledge deficits, difficulty obtaining timely information, and limited access to specialized care were leading community issues. Suicidality, depressed mood and isolation, chronic brain changes, and attention\/executive dysfunction received the highest weighted symptom-priority scores. Exposure-history estimation, event tracking, and self-administered baseline or symptom-monitoring tools were prioritized. Brief videos, linked reading materials, and testimonials were favored formats.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings provide directional, Australian-specific guidance for co-design and implementation testing under Recommendation 61 of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Their convergence with a separately conducted U.S. SOF-affiliated survey identifies candidate allied implementation themes, but the Australian sample should not be treated as representative of Australian SOF as a whole or directly generalizable to U.S. military populations.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1815984","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T15:35:33Z","timestamp":1788536133000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Suicidality, care access, and knowledge deficits lead priorities on blast overpressure\/mTBI in an Australian special operations forces survey and their implications for evolving U.S. Warfighter brain health initiatives"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Rebecca A.","family":"Ivory","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Nursing, Emory University","place":["Atlanta, GA, United States"]},{"name":"School of Nursing, University of Delaware","place":["Newark, DE, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Scanlan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Vigil Australia","place":["Perth, WA, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ricky","family":"Ditzel Jr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rush University Medical College","place":["Chicago, IL, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James S.","family":"Meabon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"VA Northwest Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA Puget Sound Health Care System","place":["Seattle, WA, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Washington","place":["Seattle, WA, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"87","DOI":"10.55460\/3AC6-AX9I","article-title":"Low-level blast exposure in humans: a systematic review of acute and chronic effects","volume":"20","author":"Belanger","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Spec Oper Med"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1391","DOI":"10.1089\/neu.2022.0030","article-title":"Long-term effects of repeated blast exposure in United States special operations forces personnel: a pilot study protocol","volume":"39","author":"Edlow","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Neurotrauma"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"318","DOI":"10.1089\/neu.2022.0075","article-title":"Cumulative blast exposure estimate model for special operations forces combat soldiers","volume":"40","author":"McEvoy","year":"2023","journal-title":"J 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repeated high-level blast, low-level blast, and new-onset self-reported health conditions in the U.S. millennium cohort study: an exploratory investigation","volume":"14","author":"Belding","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front Neurol"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1599351","DOI":"10.3389\/fneur.2025.1599351","article-title":"Blast exposure and long-term diagnoses among veterans: a millennium cohort study investigation of high-level blast and low-level blast","volume":"16","author":"Martindale","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front Neurol"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"693","DOI":"10.1080\/02699052.2022.2033848","article-title":"The management and rehabilitation of post-acute mild traumatic brain injury","volume":"36","author":"Eapen","year":"2022","journal-title":"Brain Inj"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1815983","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1815983","article-title":"Stakeholder-informed priorities for process improvement in Warfighter brain health efforts","volume":"14","author":"Ivory","year":"2026","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.publhealth.19.1.173","article-title":"Review of community-based research: assessing partnership approaches to improve public health","volume":"19","author":"Israel","year":"1998","journal-title":"Annu Rev Public Health"},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"986","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjqs-2015-004411","article-title":"SQUIRE 2.0 (standards for QUality improvement reporting excellence): revised publication guidelines from a detailed consensus process","volume":"25","author":"Ogrinc","year":"2016","journal-title":"BMJ Qual Saf"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public 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