Search results

This study investigates the leadership tenets informing veterans’ work as school leaders. Drawing on 15 interviews and surveys with military veterans working as educational leaders, the study relies on Stake’s (2006) case study method to substantiate assertions that veterans: 1) come into education without the support of a transitional program, 2) are committed to taking care of their people, 3) have a strong belief in service, 4) are influenced by leadership that they have witnessed, and 5) are equipped to manage delegating and accountability by virtue of military experiences.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to first consider how veterans use talk to shape interpretations of personal and social identify. Second, this paper seeks to gain an understanding of how veterans see themselves in a civilian world, their ability to re-conceptualise and realign their perspective on life to support their transition in to a civilian world.

Underpinned by Ricoeur’s theory of narrative identity, the work provides a qualitative analysis data from coaching interviews with five veterans.

The findings revealed the on-going legacy of military life and how its distinctiveness and belief centred on kinship shapes personal identity and the way they see their civilian world. The work sheds light on to the benefits of this Ricoeur’s self-reflexive approach and how it can be used to provide a deeper insight in to the nature of personal transitions and how narrative can be used to expose complexities of the narratives of personal history and meaning as the narrator becomes both the seeker and what is sought.

The work reinforces the value of Ricoeur’s self-reflexive approach identifying narrative mediating between two “poles” of identity and the act of mimesis; prefiguration, configuration and refiguration as veterans project stories of their world and their place within it.

The paper provides new insights in to the importance of narrative identify broadening its potential application with engagement across diverse communities, thereby providing depth and rigour of its conceptual understanding of personal identify. The work further provides insights in to the challenges facing veterans to integrate within a civilian society.

Several risk factors have been identified in ongoing efforts by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to mitigate high rates of homelessness among veterans. To date, no studies have examined the relationship of rurality and distance to nearest VA facility to risk of homelessness. Due to challenges in accessing available services, the hypothesis was that rural-residing veterans are at greater risk for homelessness. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The cohort consisted of veterans who had separated from the military between 2001 and 2011. The authors used a forwarding address provided by the service member at the time of separation from the military to determine rurality of residence and distance to care. The authors examined differences in the rate of homelessness within a year of a veteran’s first encounter with the VA following last military separation based on rurality and distance to the nearest VA facility using multivariable log-binomial regressions.

In the cohort of 708,318 veterans, 84.3 percent were determined to have a forwarding address in urban areas, 60.4 and 88.7 percent lived within 40 miles of the nearest VA medical center (VAMC), respectively. Veterans living in a rural area (RR=0.763; 95 percent CI=0.718-0.810) and those living between 20 and 40 miles (RR=0.893; 95 percent CI=0.846-0.943) and 40+ miles away from the nearest VAMC (RR=0.928; 95 percent CI=0.879-0.979) were at a lower risk for homelessness.

The unique data set allowed the authors to explore the relationship between geography and homelessness. These results are important to VA and national policy makers in understanding the risk factors for homelessness among veterans and planning interventions.

We present a legislative background and assessment of approaches to financing the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare services, and focus on issues related to beneficiaries eligible for both VA and Medicare benefits. We refer to a large, VA Medical Center (VAMC) hospital and healthcare complex as a case for comparison of financing approaches. Several legislative proposals had been made to grant the VA funding transfers from Medicare. To date, none has passed in the Congress. Our analysis shows that payments from Medicare would need to be adjusted for the specialized characteristics of VAMC patients, as well as for higher capital costs related to the federal VAMC mandate to maintain reserve capacity for national health emergencies, in order to appropriately apply Medicare payments.

A significant minority of veterans have poor mental health outcomes but their needs are not always well managed by the NHS. The purpose of this paper is to explore veterans’ experiences of NHS mental healthcare in Norfolk and Suffolk to identify ways of improving services.

Interviews were conducted with 30 veterans. Template analysis was undertaken to explore key themes in the interview transcripts.

Participants were reluctant to seek help but were more likely to engage with a veteran-specific service. Those whose symptoms were military related reported better experiences when accessing treatment that was military sensitive.

This was a local study and the findings do not necessarily reflect the views of the wider veteran community. Most participants who received military sensitive treatment were referred to the study by NHS providers, which could account for their positive feedback.

The development of dedicated mental health services may encourage more veterans to seek support, helping to improve patient outcomes. There is a need for further research to determine the effectiveness of dedicated services and identify how they should be deployed.

Where academic interest has generally centred on the aetiology of mental health conditions within the military, this study focussed upon service user experience. The findings contributed to NHS England’s recent decision to extend its network of dedicated services in 12 areas of the country to cover veterans across England from April 2017.

Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have high lifetime rates of smoking and often have substantial difficulty quitting. However, relatively little research has focussed on the use of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) intensive tobacco cessation counseling services by veterans with PTSD and the characteristics of veterans with PTSD who do and do not use these services. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The present study is an analysis of national VHA administrative data fiscal year 2012 that identified utilization rates of VHA intensive tobacco cessation counseling among veterans with diagnoses of both PTSD and tobacco use disorder (TUD) (N=144,990) and the correlates of tobacco cessation counseling use.

Altogether, 7,921 veterans with PTSD diagnosed with TUD used VHA tobacco cessation services (5.5 percent). Veterans with PTSD who used tobacco cessation counseling services were more likely to have been homeless, to have a comorbid drug use disorder, and had used other VHA services more frequently than their counterparts who did not access tobacco cessation counseling. The use of outpatient mental health and substance use services was the strongest correlate of tobacco cessation counseling use by veterans in this sample. Notably, veterans with PTSD, TUD and HIV were more likely to engage in tobacco cessation services.

This study demonstrates that future efforts should focus on increasing provider and veteran awareness of and accessibility to VHA intensive tobacco cessation counseling for veterans with PTSD.

Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among UK veterans is higher than in the general population. However, prevalence figures do not reflect the complexity of this phenomenon and ways in which it may be bound up with veterans’ experiences of adjusting to civilian life. The purpose of this study is to explore veterans’ experiences of successfully managing PTSD.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six veterans who had served in the UK armed forces and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Three themes were developed: accepting the problem, taking responsibility and gaining control; talking to the right people; and strategies, antidotes and circling back around. Managing PTSD appeared to be bound up with veterans’ experience of renegotiating their identity, where positive aspects of identity lost on leaving the military were rebuilt and problematic aspects were challenged. Participants sought to speak about their difficulties with others who understood the military context. They felt that their experiences made them a valuable resource to others, and they connected this with a positive sense of identity and value.

The findings suggest the importance of wider provision of peer support and education for civilian health services on veterans’ needs.

This study adds to the understanding of what meaningful recovery from PTSD may involve for veterans, in particular its potential interconnectedness with the process of adjusting to civilian life.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive argument for nature-based therapy (NBT) for veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome. It is the aim to generate an overview of the evidence for NBT to the target group. A review of available scientific literature within the field, has been comprehensively conducted. This work is the foundation for the recommendations to decision makers and politicians.

This paper provides a conceptual analyses and a general review of the literature. Following steps have been conducted. Based on the research question, relevant work (scientific papers) have been identified using search terms in English within the three areas the target group (veterans), the diagnosis (post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD) and treatment (NBT). Study-quality and evidence level have been assessed and discussed.

The findings show a wide variation according to the interventions the nature setting, the length and frequency of the NBT session as well as the health outcome measures. The studies demonstrated a positive impact on the PTSD symptoms, quality of life and hope. None of the studies found negative impact of the interventions. Being in a group of other veterans facing the same problems was highlighted as well. Some studies measured the ability to return to workforce for the veterans and found NBT beneficial in that process.

The limitation of the research due to the methods of identifying studies. The purpose of this was to give an overview of existing literature, and there can be studies, that are not found in this process. Including qualitative and quantitative methods are useful in a process of understanding the impact of NBT for veterans with PTSD. The quantitative studies, which unfortunately are few, can give information of the extent to which the treatment affects the symptoms of PTSD. Seen in the perspective of the burden for the veterans suffering from PTSD and the economic burden for society, the process of synthesizing the research in the field in order to generate a fundament seems necessary.

This policy papers are useful in order to make recommendations for politicians and decision makers as well as practitioners.

The burden of suffering from PTSD is heavy for the veterans and their family. The society must drive forward the development of new and better evidence-based treatment programs for veterans with PTSD. NBT might be a step in the right direction of this.

It is well-known that there are an increase in the number of veterans diagnosed with PTSD. Generally the drop-out rate of the veterans is high in conventional treatment and it is found that veterans experience some side effects from medical treatment. NBT is, in existing research, found to have a positive impact on the veterans, and therefore, it should be part of future treatment programs for veterans with PTSD.

This study aims to examine consumers’ patriotism, attitudes toward veterans and attitudes and behaviors toward businesses that honor veterans. The goal is to determine if consumers are more or less likely to support businesses that offer veterans preferential treatment.

The conceptual model proposed is tested using an online survey with a nationwide sample. Data are analyzed using partial least squares structural equations modeling.

Results indicate that consumer attitudes toward businesses that honor veterans fully mediate the impact of consumer attitudes toward veterans on behavioral intentions. This suggests that veterans’ discounts or preferential treatments are viewed as a viable means by which consumers can show their support for veterans. Further, results reveal that patriotism has a direct effect on consumers’ behavioral intentions toward businesses that honor veterans.

Businesses routinely offer discounts targeted to specific consumers, such as the elderly and children. These results show that providing discounts to veterans can offer multiple benefits to businesses as well. Positive attitudes toward businesses that honor veterans can lead to positive behavioral intentions from consumers who seek to support veterans.

Despite the existence of businesses honoring veterans by providing discounts or preferential treatment, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, little to no research has investigated the impact that these discounts provide to businesses.