RESUMO
Military spouses must contend with unique issues such as a mobile lifestyle, rules and regulations of military life, and frequent family separations including peacekeeping and combat deployments. These issues may have an adverse effect on the health of military spouses. This study examined the mental health status, rates of care utilization, source of care, as well as barriers and stigma of mental health care utilization among military spouses who were seeking care in military primary care clinics. The data show spouses have similar rates of mental health problems compared to soldiers. Spouses were more likely to seek care for their mental health problems and were less concerned with the stigma of mental health care than were soldiers. Services were most often received from primary care physicians, rather than specialty mental health professionals, which may relate to the lack of availability of mental health services for spouses on military installations.
Assuntos
Campanha Afegã de 2001- , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Necessidades e Demandas de Serviços de Saúde , Guerra do Iraque 2003-2011 , Transtornos Mentais/epidemiologia , Serviços de Saúde Mental/organização & administração , Saúde Mental , Atenção Primária à Saúde/organização & administração , Adolescente , Afeganistão/epidemiologia , Feminino , Inquéritos Epidemiológicos , Humanos , Iraque/epidemiologia , Masculino , Transtornos Mentais/etiologia , Militares , Psiquiatria Militar , Aceitação pelo Paciente de Cuidados de Saúde , Prevalência , Testes Psicológicos , Psicometria , Fatores de Risco , Cônjuges , Estresse Psicológico/complicações , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
The objectives of this study were to generate precise estimates of suicide rates in the military while controlling for factors contributing to rate variability such as demographic differences and classification bias, and to develop a simple methodology for the determination of statistically derived thresholds for detecting significant rate changes. Suicide rate estimates were calculated for the military population and each service branch over 11 years, directly standardized to the 2000 U.S. population. Military rates were highly comparable across branches and were approximately 20% lower than the civilian rate. Direct adjustment essentially controlled for the demographic confounds in this sample. Applying the Poisson-based method, we demonstrate that suicide rate fluctuations as large as 20-40% in any year may be attributed to random error.
