As described in more detail previously in this issue (Kessler et al., this issue ), the AAS is a cross-sectional survey of active duty Army personnel exclusive of Soldiers in Basic Combat Training administered in quarterly replicates to a total of nearly 50,000 Soldiers during calendar years 2011–2012. Each quarterly AAS replicate consisted of a stratified (by Army Command-location and unit size) probability sample of Army units, excluding units of fewer than 30 Soldiers (less than 2% of all Army personnel). All targeted personnel in these units were ordered to attend an informed consent presentation explaining study purposes, confidentiality procedures, and the voluntary nature of participation before requesting written informed consent for a group self-administered questionnaire (SAQ). Respondents were additionally asked for consent to link their Army and Department of Defense administrative records to their SAQ responses and to participate in future longitudinal follow-up data collections. Identifying information (name, birthday, SSN for record linkage; telephone number, email, secondary contact information for longitudinal follow-up) was collected from consenting respondents and kept in a separate secure file. These recruitment, consent, and data protection procedures were approved by the Human Subjects Committees of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences for the Henry M. Jackson Foundation (the primary grantee), the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan (the organization implementing Army STARRS surveys), and all other collaborating organizations.
The clinical reappraisal study (CRS) was carried out between March 2012 and November 2012. All quarterly AAS replicates over that time period were based on representative samples of Soldiers stationed both in the continental U.S. and elsewhere in the world other than a combat theater, while the Q2-3 2012 replicates also included probability samples of Soldiers stationed in Afghanistan who were surveyed in group-administered sessions while they were passing through Kuwait either leaving for or returning from their mid-tour leave. However, because of logistical issues requiring that the CRS clinical reappraisal interviews be administered within two weeks of the AAS survey, the CRS was implemented exclusively in the continental U.S. among Regular (active component) Army AAS respondents providing consent for administrative data linkage and completing the SAQ. Activated Army Reserve and National Guard respondents were excluded from the CRS due to small numbers.
Although, as noted above, all unit members in these replicates were ordered to report to the informed consent session, 19.4% of those in the replicates used for the CRS were absent due to conflicting duty assignments. The vast majority of those attending (99.6%) consented to the survey and 98.8 % of consenters completed the survey. In addition, 71.4% of completers provided successful record linkage. Most incomplete surveys were due to logistical complications (e.g., units either arriving late to survey sessions or having to leave early), although some respondents needed more than the allotted 90 minutes to complete the survey. The survey completion-successful-linkage cooperation rate was 63.9% and the completion-successful-linkage response rate was 51.5 % based on the American Association of Public Opinion Research COOP1 and RR1 calculation methods (American Association for Public Opinion Research, 2009 ).
The clinical reappraisal study (CRS) was carried out between March 2012 and November 2012. All quarterly AAS replicates over that time period were based on representative samples of Soldiers stationed both in the continental U.S. and elsewhere in the world other than a combat theater, while the Q2-3 2012 replicates also included probability samples of Soldiers stationed in Afghanistan who were surveyed in group-administered sessions while they were passing through Kuwait either leaving for or returning from their mid-tour leave. However, because of logistical issues requiring that the CRS clinical reappraisal interviews be administered within two weeks of the AAS survey, the CRS was implemented exclusively in the continental U.S. among Regular (active component) Army AAS respondents providing consent for administrative data linkage and completing the SAQ. Activated Army Reserve and National Guard respondents were excluded from the CRS due to small numbers.
Although, as noted above, all unit members in these replicates were ordered to report to the informed consent session, 19.4% of those in the replicates used for the CRS were absent due to conflicting duty assignments. The vast majority of those attending (99.6%) consented to the survey and 98.8 % of consenters completed the survey. In addition, 71.4% of completers provided successful record linkage. Most incomplete surveys were due to logistical complications (e.g., units either arriving late to survey sessions or having to leave early), although some respondents needed more than the allotted 90 minutes to complete the survey. The survey completion-successful-linkage cooperation rate was 63.9% and the completion-successful-linkage response rate was 51.5 % based on the American Association of Public Opinion Research COOP1 and RR1 calculation methods (American Association for Public Opinion Research, 2009 ).
