RESUMO
The military community and its partners have made vigorous efforts to address treatment barriers and increase appropriate mental health services use among returning National Guard soldiers. We assessed whether there were differences in reports of treatment barriers in 3 categories (stigma, logistics, or negative beliefs about treatment) in sequential cross-sectional samples of U.S. soldiers from a Midwestern Army National Guard Organization who were returning from overseas deployments. Data were collected during 3 time periods: September 2007-August 2008 (n = 333), March 2009-March 2010 (n = 884), and August 2011-August 2012 (n = 737). In analyses using discretized time periods and in trend analyses, the percentages of soldiers endorsing negative beliefs about treatment declined significantly across the 3 sequential samples (19.1%, 13.9%, and 11.1%). The percentages endorsing stigma barriers (37.8%, 35.2%, 31.8%) decreased significantly only in trend analyses. Within the stigma category, endorsement of individual barriers regarding negative reactions to a soldier seeking treatment declined, but barriers related to concerns about career advancement did not. Negative treatment beliefs were associated with reduced services use (OR = 0.57; 95% CI [0.33, 0.97]).
Assuntos
Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Serviços de Saúde Mental/estatística & dados numéricos , Militares/psicologia , Aceitação pelo Paciente de Cuidados de Saúde , Estigma Social , Adolescente , Adulto , Mobilidade Ocupacional , Depressão/diagnóstico , Depressão/terapia , Feminino , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Humanos , Relações Interpessoais , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Escalas de Graduação Psiquiátrica , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/diagnóstico , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/terapia , Fatores de Tempo , Estados Unidos , Adulto JovemRESUMO
The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have greatly increased the number of veterans returning home with combat exposure, reintegration issues, and psychiatric symptoms. National Guard soldiers face additional challenges. Unlike active duty soldiers, they do not return to military installations with access to military health services or peers. The authors describe the formation and activities of a partnership among two large state universities in Michigan and the Michigan Army National Guard, established to assess and develop programming to meet the needs of returning soldiers. The process of forming the partnership and the challenges, opportunities, and benefits arising from it are described.
