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The objectives of this study was to evaluate of the effectiveness of the vison camp that is the suicide prevention program in the Korean military. Our study was designed to review the suicide prevention plan in the military, and examed the suicidal prevention program(vision camp) which was intervened by military chaplains. The 43 soldiers who joined the vision camp and 26 officers whose soldiers joined the camp were surveyed by questionnaires and short interviews. Questionnaires for soldiers consist of benefits of the camp, suicidal ideation, and self-esteem. And Questionnaires for officers consist of changing points of the soldiers after finishing the camp. 97.9% of soldiers said the camp was beneficial, and 93% of soldiers wanted to join the camp again. The reason of the benefits were the chance to understand themselves and others. The more beneficial programs were Movie, MBTI, and the Candle ceremony. Before they joined the camp, the significant person who can help them were parents, siblings, and civilian friends. After the camp, the social supporter were military seniors, parents, and military colleagues. Suicidal ideation score was 39.23(29-145 possible range) that meant they didn’t keep the suicidal ideation. Self-esteem scale was 31.88(11-55 possible range) that meant they had moderate pride. As they were not asked the scales before the program, we couldn’t compare the score. Officers said the soldiers who join the program changed positively, such as adaptation the unit, increased pride and personal relationship skills between soldiers. Knowledge of suicide was measured with 25 true/false items for officers. The average of right answers was 12. 5. This indicated the officers need to know more about suicide. As above, vision camp was an effective program to help soldiers to adapt to the unit, reduce the suicide behavior through improving the understanding each other, increasing pride, and broadening the social support. We recommended the suicidal prevention center be made to intervene the suicide prevention program, educate officers how to counsel the soldiers, and help soldiers who are discharged from the psychiatric ward. It is hoped that this study will spur further research surrounding suicidal behavior in the military.
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