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Ex‐servicemen and women of all ranks suffering from disabilities of a psychiatric nature are eligible for help. Three establishments which afford treatment are described.

A disproportionate number of homeless people have spent time in the armed forces. This study used interviews with ex‐homeless people with a Services background to record their individual experiences and look at the factors which might increase the likelihood that someone will become homeless after leaving the Services. Disrupted family backgrounds were a feature of the lives of the youngest respondents. Alcohol dependency, mental health problems and relationship breakdown featured strongly among the group as a whole, although they were associated more strongly with older respondents. A central conclusion is that help with housing should be complemented by greater access to emotional and psychological support services during and after the period of transition from military to civilian life.

The intention of this article is to alert practitioners of the need to engage with research and to appreciate the range and specific roles of organisations undertaking research and the purposes for their findings. The paper seeks to describe the difficulties research findings bring if not used within their limitations, and fully conscious of their motivation.

The paper illustrates the issues through the example of research studies published over several years on homelessness amongst former Services personnel – “veterans”.

The paper finds that understanding research findings within the context of the original purpose of the commissioner is crucial if managers are to understand the need for changes in practice – in this case working with homeless people with an ex‐military background. With this proviso, housing organisations can use research to evidence the issues they are encountering to a wider audience, notably policy makers and secondary, to establish new directions for Services that are then more accurately designed to meet actual and emerging needs.

This paper encourages housing organisations, especially those working with people whose needs are partly specific to their cohort, to integrate research into their main business functions, i.e. to underpin their business plan.

This is a rare account to appear in print, tracing the history and drawing conclusions from this particular area of research.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the process of co-producing mental health research where work was shared between university academics, charity-based researchers and a Lived Experience Advisory Panel.

The authors express the opinions of a research team made up of people with experience of using mental health services, being carers and being academically trained researchers from a range of health and social science disciplines. Some had experience in several areas. The paper is co-produced to provide collective reflection and recommendations.

Co-production of research is not well documented in published literature. The authors believe there is scope to develop co-production approaches, but further conceptual and theoretical work is needed alongside empirical studies. A socially situated complex research project, possibly involving multi-stakeholder groups, demands flexibility in approach. Similarly to user-controlled and other emancipatory methodologies, co-production makes the democratisation of research a primary objective in order to produce better quality and more relevant studies. Co-production also addresses inequalities in power and control within research projects; this way of working does provide a healthy challenge to traditional research hierarchies.

Lessons learned should be honestly shared to develop co-production research methods. Projects need to have a strategy for how to value different contributions and facilitate constructive relationships if discord emerges. Establishing clear project roles, expectations and process for payment are essential in developing genuine collaborative partnerships.

It is a viewpoint paper.

This purpose of this paper is to review evidence about the barriers and facilitators to ex-service personnel obtaining employment within social care roles. Social care has long-standing, well-recognised problems of staff recruitment and retention. Policymakers and employers are exploring if there are untapped sources of potential employees. Some ex-service personnel may be interested in exploring a move to social care work with older people but may face barriers to such a move which may need to be addressed.

Databases and grey literature were searched systematically to provide an overview of evidence on this topic. In total, 23 articles were included in the review.

A narrative analysis revealed barriers to ex-service personnel obtaining employment within social care not only related to their previous occupation, health status and identity but also facilitators related to the sector’s severe recruitment challenges and the transferable skills of ex-service personnel. Evidence suggests that learning from health services may be highly relevant and transferable.

This review was confined to English language studies published between 2008 and 2018. Few mentioned specific user or client groups.

This review identified evidence suggesting that learning from health services may be highly relevant and transferable to the social care sector so as to facilitate the transition of more ex-service personnel into social care work with older people.

The purpose of this paper is to review evidence about the role of education in supporting ex-service personnel to move to social care work with older people. Social care has long-standing, well-recognised problems of staff recruitment and retention in many jurisdictions. Within ageing societies, the need for more social care staff is predicted to rise. Therefore, policy makers and employers are exploring if there are untapped sources of potential employees. Some ex-service personnel may be interested in exploring a move to social care work with older people but may need to gain additional qualifications.

Databases and grey literature were searched systematically to provide an overview of the evidence on this topic. Six articles were included in the review.

A narrative analysis revealed two themes: preparing ex-service personnel for enrolment onto health and social care programmes, and supporting ex-service personnel during health and social care programmes.

This review was confined to English language studies published between 2008 and 2018. Few mentioned specific user or client groups.

This review identified evidence gaps relating to whether the skills, education, training and experience gained in the armed services are transferable to civilian social care work with older people; the types of support which are offered to ex-service personnel who are interested in completing qualifications necessary for social care roles and the views of ex-service personnel about their experiences of completing educational courses to facilitate a transition into social care work with older people.

Ex‐service personnel face numerous and significant problems upon discharge from the forces. The purpose of this paper is to explore experiences of the transition from military to civilian life and to identify some of the barriers and facilitators to re‐employment.

In‐depth interviews were carried out with 11 ex‐servicemen who had previously served in the UK armed forces and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).

Participants described their experiences in terms of three broad themes: characteristics of a military life; loss as experienced upon return to civilian life; and the attempt to bridge the gap between these two lives. Transcending these themes was the notion of identity, illustrating that the transition from military to civilian life can be viewed as a shift in sense of self from soldier to civilian.

The current study only recruited male ex‐service personnel and therefore the findings may not accurately represent the experiences of female service leavers.

The military needs to ensure that not only is support provided for all service personnel, but that it goes beyond basic vocational advice. Although the needs of ex‐service personnel are defined by factors other than unemployment, such as trauma or the sudden loss of security, they do relate back to unemployment in some capacity. Methodological changes to the discharge process could help this population to achieve a more continuous trajectory rather than a fragmented one.

The present study has provided further insight into the identity experiences of ex‐service personnel along their journey from soldier to civilian. Breakwell's Identity Process Theory provided a valuable framework for understanding the experiences of ex‐service personnel.

Combat Stress, a charity that aims to meet the needs of veterans with psychological disability, often related to their service, is seeing growing demand for the care it offers. This paper explores the impact of post‐traumatic stress disorder on veterans. In many cases, this is associated with subsequent substance misuse. In describing Combat Stress's approach to helping these individuals, it argue that mainstream and other non‐statutory service providers should develop their screening and assessment services to help meet veterans' needs.