Annotated Bibliography on Veteran Health and Psychology

Veteran Health and Psychology: Annotated Bibliography

McNamara, K. A., Lucas, C. L., Goldbach, J. T., Kintzle, S., & Castro, C. A. (2019). Mental health of the bisexual veteran. Military Psychology, 31(2), 91-99.

The authors of this paper assert that the mental disparities between lesbian/ gay veterans and heterosexual veterans can be attributed to bisexual veterans. They point to their research findings, which showed insignificant differences in depression risks between lesbian/gay veterans and heterosexual veterans. However, when they considered bisexual veterans, LGB veterans (lesbians, gays, and bisexuals) had a higher risk of depression than heterosexual veterans. The authors also compared the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) between bisexual and heterosexual veterans and between bisexual and lesbian/gay veterans. In both instances, bisexual veterans had a higher risk of PTSD. Given these findings, they concluded that bisexual individuals should be assessed as a distinct group in future mental health studies. The majority of the existing studies have combined bisexual veterans with gay and lesbian veterans.

This article is an excellent resource because it provides helpful information on mental health in sexual minority veterans and instruments for measuring depression and PTSD. This study suggests that bisexual veterans have a higher risk of mental health problems (depression and PTSD) compared to other sexual orientations groups. That is heterosexual and lesbian/ gay veterans. The authors used Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to measure depression because it has better psychometric properties. They also used the PTSD Checklist (PCL-C and PCL-5) to measure PSTD symptoms because it is recommended for use with military veterans.

Gorman, J. A., Scoglio, A. A., Smolinsky, J., Russo, A., & Drebing, C. E. (2018). Veteran coffee socials: A community-building strategy for enhancing community reintegration of veterans. Community mental health journal, 54(8), 1189-1197.

The authors of this article use individual and group case descriptions to illustrates how Veterans Coffee Socials enhance community reintegration for returning veterans. Veterans Coffee Social is a trans-diagnostic intervention designed to enhance social capital and social support, promote peer-to-peer education, and promote community development. Individual cases describe three veterans from diverse backgrounds. The first case was a 28- year-old Caucasian female (Greta) who had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Greta was post- 9/11 Army combat veteran. The second case was 68- year-old Caucasian male (Jared) who has PTSD and neuropathic pain. He is a Vietnam-era combat veteran. The third and last individual case was a 24-year-old Hispanic male (Mike) with a substance abuse problem. Mike served in the Navy. At the end of this study, Jared, Greta, and Mike expanded their community and gained social support after attending Coffee Social events. It means Coffee Social provides a platform where veteran attendees can develop social connections, share useful information, learn about existing resources.

Group cases describe three Veteran Coffee Socials in different communities: Group A, Group B, and Group C. The goal of Group A was to facilitate social support. The veterans in this group participated in more social and reactional activities outside the Coffee Social events. Group B was made up of veterans looking for a sense of connection. Their attendance grew rapidly because veterans have a strong desire for connection. Peer specialists formed and facilitated. Group C, but withdrew after the group becomes self-sustainable. In all the groups, the average number of veteran attendees increased. Therefore, these groups\\\\\\\' case best illustrates how Veterans Coffee Social serves to empower veterans to build healthy communities. Based on these findings, Veteran Coffee Socials can be used to build community and enhance social support.

This article provides a foundation for understanding how trans-diagnostic interventions such as Veterans Coffee Socials can support community reintegration programs for returning clients. Trans-diagnostic interventions are designed to \\\\\\\"engage community, enhance social support and social capital, as well as promote opportunities for informal peer-to-peer education and consciousness-raising\\\\\\\" (Gorman et al., 2018)

Montgomery, L. M., & Olson, J. N. (2018). Veterans treatment court impact on veteran mental health and life satisfaction. Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Science, 6(1), 1-4.

Linda Montgomery and James Oslon carried out a pre-post-test study to determine the effects of Veterans Treatment Court (VTC) on Mental health and life satisfaction. VTC is a pre-trial diversion program for veterans who have been charged with misdemeanor or felony. A total of 29 veterans participated in the program, but only 13 were evaluated. The majority of the participants were male (92.3%), and the remaining 7.7% were females. The authors used the following questionnaires to collect data: 1) PTSD Checklist, 2) Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE), 3) Combat Exposure Scale (CES), 4) Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), 5) Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale, 6) Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), 6) Brief Resilience Scale ( BRS),7) Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being, 8) Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21), 9) Hope Adult Scale, 10) Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, and 11) Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). Each participant completed the above questionnaires before and after the VTC program (at six months and one year).

Results showed that veterans who completed the VTC program had few mental symptoms and greater life satisfaction than veterans who were discharged. The authors concluded that VTC is effective in improving mental health and life satisfaction of veterans. This article is critical since it provides a good foundation for understanding the VTC program. Overall, this program is effective because it promotes positive life-style changes and reduces incarceration rates of veterans.

Lostutter, T. W., Neighbors, C. R., Simpson, T., & Larimer, M. E. (2020). The Relationship of College Student and Veteran Identities to Mental Health Symptoms and Alcohol Use Among Veteran and Nonveteran Students. Military Behavioral Health, 8(1), 33-41.

The authors of this paper conducted a study to test the following hypotheses: 1) veteran students have increased proportion of alcohol use and alcohol severity compared to nonveteran students; 2) veteran students have higher PTSD, anxiety, and depression scores compared to nonveteran students, and 3) the relationship between mental health symptoms (PTSD, anxiety, and depression) and alcohol misuse is stronger in veteran students. Participants of this study were 201 nonveteran college students and 184 college student veterans. They were recruited from a large west-coast public university: 3.9% were postbaccalaureate students, 42.6% seniors, 40.8% juniors, 6.5% sophomores, and 6.2% first-year students. The majority of participants were males (76.9%), and the remaining 23.1% were females. Their average age of participants was 25.80 years.

Data to test these hypotheses were collected using the following questionnaires 1) Daily Drinking Questionnaire, 2) Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), 3) PTSD Checklist, 4) Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and 5) General Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7). Daily Drinking Questionnaire and AUDIT was used to assess alcohol use. PTSD Checklist, GAD-7, and PHQ-9 were used to assess psychiatric symptoms (PTSD, anxiety, and depression). Self Scale was used to measure self-identification with two reference groups: military veteran and college student.

Results of the study showed that both veteran and nonveteran students had high rates of mental health symptoms and alcohol use. Secondly, the differences in PTSD symptoms and alcohol use between the two was insignificant. Third, and lastly, the results showed a stronger relationship between mental health symptoms and veteran identity. Therefore, the above findings are not consistent with the hypothesis that veteran students have higher alcohol use rates and higher psychiatric symptoms than nonveteran students. The authors concluded that college student identification could help reduce mental health symptoms for civilian and veteran college students.

This article provides a good foundation for understating the relationship between veteran identity and mental health symptoms. That is, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. The article also defines veteran identity, which is vital in veteran mental health studies.