A Phenomenological Study of Former Service Member Experiences Undergoing Military-based Therapy

A Phenomenological Study of Former Service Member Experiences Undergoing Military-based Therapy PDF Author: Gabriel Hubbard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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A Phenomenological Study of Former Service Member Experiences Undergoing Military-based Therapy

A Phenomenological Study of Former Service Member Experiences Undergoing Military-based Therapy PDF Author: Gabriel Hubbard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description


An Phenomenological Study Exploring the Experiences of Active-duty Servicemembers Seeking Mental Health Treatment

An Phenomenological Study Exploring the Experiences of Active-duty Servicemembers Seeking Mental Health Treatment PDF Author: Philip Clinton Allen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medicine, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of active-duty servicemembers regarding mental health stigma and help-seeking behavior. Due to the trauma of intense combat, military servicemembers experience mental health problems at an alarming rate, and despite increased awareness and access to mental health resources, they are still reluctant to seek treatment. This study explored the lived experiences of military servicemembers with an aim to address the following research question: “How do military service members experience overcoming mental health stigma and decide to seek treatment while still on active duty?” Thirteen participants from the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps were administered interviews inquiring into their experiences with mental health via Zoom and phone. Themes emerged in two categories: “Stigma” and “Overcoming Stigma.” The associations of common themes between the two categories that included 50% or more of the 13 participants are presented. The three strongest themes participants recounted as factors that led to deciding to seek mental health services were the realization that professional help is needed to address mental health concerns, personal growth in deciding to seek mental health services and trust in others. Because of the intrinsic motivational nature of these factors, the researcher concluded that overcoming stigma is unteachable. However, there are practical ways to reduce external stigma in the military, including educating military leaders, servicemembers, and family members about mental health and the need for treatment if warranted.

Willingness to Seek Mental Health Treatment: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Female Military Service Members’ Experiences Following a Self-Perceived Mental Health Concern

Willingness to Seek Mental Health Treatment: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Female Military Service Members’ Experiences Following a Self-Perceived Mental Health Concern PDF Author: Ashley M Griffith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Background: Women comprise a growing proportion of the United States Armed Forces; yet, their unique experiences related to seeking mental health treatment have largely gone unexplored in the literature. While women experience higher rates of mental health disorders and seek treatment more frequently, they have conveyed unique concerns related to their decisions to utilize mental health treatment. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the shared, lived experience of female activity duty service members' willingness to seek mental health treatment and the factors that influenced their willingness, in the military mental health care system, following a self-perceived mental health concern. Methods: I conducted in-depth, open-ended interviews with seven, purposively sampled individuals ranging in age from 22 to 50 years old for a total of 14 interviews. Each participant reported she had served on active duty since 2008 and had experienced a self-perceived, mental health concern during that time. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Military Stigma Scale, and two separate interviews. All interviews were transcribed and then analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis with a social constructivism framework. Results: Three main themes were identified as contributing to the willingness to utilize mental health treatment: organizational factors, other individuals' experiences, and personal experiences. Within each theme, participants expanded upon the influence of the messages received at differing levels, as well as the interactions with others regarding mental health treatment. These themes emphasized the influence of the social context in which these decisions are made. Discussion: Overall, female service members perceive that the military has made positive changes, which provide greater opportunity and support for treating mental health concerns. However, if service members continue to not seek services, we must work to understand what is continuing to prevent those actions and encourage treatment seeking behaviors. In our sample of service women, concerns about career repercussions and pervasive negative views of women were especially salient barriers. Continuing to ask service members what factors influence their decision to seek treatment, finding ways to improve perceptions of female service members, and increasing the transparency of the mental health treatment process and impacts could further increase rates of treatment seeking.

Military in the Rear View Mirror

Military in the Rear View Mirror PDF Author: Lpc Duane K. L. France
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780996318150
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
When a service member leaves the military, they are leaving a unique way of life. Whether it's the early mornings, the time away from family, or simply the connection to other service members, the daily life of someone who served in the military is not common to those who never served. By any definition of culture, the military is a separate sub-culture: it has its own way of dress, of transmitting information from one generation to another, its own unique characteristics that define the lifestyle. Leaving that culture can be challenging. This book is the third compilation of articles written by Duane France, a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor. With his blend of lived experience and clinical training, this book explores the need to undergo a psychological transition from one phase of life to another. Whether a service member is carrying the impact of past experiences, currently undergoing transition and change, or are trying to establish who they will become, Military in the Rear View Mirror can help service members, veterans, their families, and those who support them understand more about the military mindset.

Moral Injury in the Military

Moral Injury in the Military PDF Author: Yohiris Martin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military spouses
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore the negative emotions that cause moral injury in the military and the detrimental effects on married military couples and their relationship with God. Studies indicate that military spouses have reported experiencing marital tension and feelings of disconnect. In addition, researchers have argued that service members with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and moral injury (MI) might suffer from shame and blame. This study explores the lived experiences of ten service members, their relationship with their spouses, and God. The central focus is the descriptions of the service members’ emotions and their potential impact on marital satisfaction, spiritual condition, and the intimate relationship the service member has with God. This investigation will be conducted at the Dobbins Air Reserve Base (ARB) military installation, GA, Maxwell Air Force Base (AFB), AL, and Fort Bragg Army Base, NC. Couples for this phenomenological study will be purposely selected. Creswell and Poth (2018) explain that purposeful sampling is used in qualitative research to determine individuals and sites for the research problem and central study of the phenomenon.

Care of Military Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families

Care of Military Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families PDF Author: Stephen J. Cozza
Publisher: American Psychiatric Pub
ISBN: 1585625310
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Care of Military Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families serves a critical need, which has been highlighted by recent reported rates of combat-related stress disorders and traumatic brain injury, as well as increases in suicide rates among service members and veterans over the past decade and the distress and challenges faced by their children and families. More than 2.5 million Americans currently serve in the U.S. military on active duty, in the Reserves, or in the National Guard, and more than 20 million civilians are veterans. Although patients are viewed here in the context of military service, they seek health care in military, veteran, and civilian settings, and their mental health concerns are as diverse as those encountered in the civilian population. This book is designed for clinicians in all care settings and provides thorough coverage of U.S. military structures and cultures across the armed services, as well as detailed material on the particular mental health challenges faced by service members and their families. A full overview of the military lifestyle is provided, including the life cycle of the military (recruitment to retirement), service subcultures (Navy, Army, Marines, Air Force, and Reserve and Guard components), challenges of military life for service members and families (moves, deployments, etc.), and military mental health. Material on military culture provides insight for practitioners who may not be familiar with this population. The book focuses on collaborative care, particularly between the military health care system and the Veterans Administration, providing clinicians with strategies to mitigate stigma and other barriers to care through mental health service delivery in primary care settings. The incidence of traumatic brain injury among service members has increased because of the use of improvised explosive devices, and an entire chapter is devoted to diagnosing and treating these injuries as well as educating patients and their families on the condition. The families of service members face significant challenges, and several chapters are devoted to the needs of military children, the families of ill and injured service members and veterans, deployment-related care, and caring for the bereaved. The book's comprehensive review of resources available to military service members, veterans, and families both ensures high-quality care and reduces the workload for treating physicians. Care of Military Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families is an authoritative and much-needed addition to the mental health literature.

Examining the Role of Place-based Interventions in Supporting Military Families

Examining the Role of Place-based Interventions in Supporting Military Families PDF Author: Sara R. Green
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Families of military personnel
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
United States military families, including active duty, Reserve and National Guard, and veteran families, continue to face challenges and risks to psycho-social health and well-being. Deployments are ongoing and represent a significant source of stress during which families attempt to maintain relationships across great distances and within the dangerous context of wartime service. Injured service members (both those who continue to serve and those who are separated from the military) and their families, contend with multiple issues related to managing symptoms, finding adequate treatment, and carving out lives under new circumstances. Research with military families continues to be essential to understanding how to best support the military members, spouses/partners, and children who sacrifice so much with their service. This qualitative dissertation uses a grounded theory approach to explore military families' experiences of stress and coping during deployment, especially those of female spouses. In addition, it examines family-level efforts to reconnect and reintegrate post-deployment and post-injury through participation in a family retreat program. In particular, this study focuses on the emplaced experiences inherent to maintaining the home during deployment and attending a place-based retreat. In doing so, this study implements a family systems approach to understanding these emplaced experiences, acknowledging the complex relational connections within families and the ways in which stressful events in particular, have ripple effects through the family unit. This dissertation is comprised of three papers empirically based on qualitative interviews with parents who attended the National Military Family Association's Operation Purple Family Retreat® (OPFR) and Operation Purple Healing Adventures® (OPHA) programs in 2013. The first paper looks at the deployment experiences of 43 female spouses with children, with particular attention to the often overlooked duties spouses take on as the primary parent on the home front. This paper conceptualizes military spouses as "stay-behind parents" and presents findings related to the stress and coping processes characteristic of this role. The second paper turns to parents' experiences at the Operation Purple retreats and seeks to understand how these family programs function as "therapeutic landscapes," a health geography framework used to understand links between places and healing. Interviews with 50 parents demonstrate interconnected program components related to the physical environment, social environment, and symbolic environment that facilitated participants' therapeutic experiences. The third paper examines respondents' experiences of the nature settings where the Operation Purple retreats occurred, seeking to illuminate the lived (military family) experience of spending time in natural environments. Findings are arranged in three phenomenological domains that both confirm and extend existing nature-health research: Being away, Being in, and Being fascinated. This study seeks to deepen our understanding of military family life and the ways in which military family systems are impacted by wartime service, deployment, and parental injury. It also aims to direct attention to existing, on-the-ground supports for military families, and place-based programs in particular. By theorizing mechanisms at work in these programs, practices can be further refined and developed to meet the needs of military families.

Phenomenological Study of how Student Service Members and Veterans with Mental Health Disorders Describe Their Academic Experience in Higher Education

Phenomenological Study of how Student Service Members and Veterans with Mental Health Disorders Describe Their Academic Experience in Higher Education PDF Author: Dustin Harris
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Anxiety
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the essence of the experiences of 13 student service members and veterans (SSM/V) with a mental health disorder (MHD) living in California. For this study, SSM/V is defined as active service members currently enrolled in higher education, both online and traditional, with a DSM 5 Veteran Affairs (VA) disability rating. The person-centered and existential (PC/E) theories were the two theories that guided this study. Data collection occurred through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and writing prompts. The study sought to answer the central research question (CQ): How do SSM/V with a MHD living in California describe their higher educational experience? A transcendental phenomenological analysis was drawn upon to reveal four significant themes. The four themes in the study included: Strong Support Networks Were Important for Overcoming the Challenges of Higher Education, Anxiety and Depressive Disorders are Perceived as Having the Highest Prevalence, MHD Symptoms Can Hurt Academic Performance, and Academic Challenges Can Increase MHD Symptoms, and Support Services Tailored for a Military Population Are Needed But Lacking. In addition to the study findings, limitations, implications for stakeholders, and recommendations for future research are presented.

Service Members' Experiences Within the Military when Identified as Considering Suicide

Service Members' Experiences Within the Military when Identified as Considering Suicide PDF Author: Tirzah Shelton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Soldiers
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Exploring Identity from Military to Civilian Life: a Phenomenological Study

Exploring Identity from Military to Civilian Life: a Phenomenological Study PDF Author: Shawn A. Saylors
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
ABSTRACT: According to the Department of Veteran Affairs (2017), there are roughly 22 million American veterans, which account for approximately 7% of the total U.S. population. Military culture can have a profound impact on the ability for individuals to reintegrate into civilian life. Prior evidence suggests that various programs and resources (i.e. finances, resume writing) can aid military personnel upon their transition to civilian life. However, research focusing on the impact of transition and the experiences of identity reconstruction amongst military members is limited. The current study was designed to explore identity reconstruction amongst individuals who were transitioning from military to civilian life. Male participants (N = 10) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format that addressed the following research questions: (a) What is the process of identity reconstruction during the transition from military to a civilian life? (b) what factors play a role in a successful transition from military to civilian life? (c) what factors may impede making a successful transition? (d) what is surprising about the transition? Results included several categories including the lack of purpose, becoming a leader of soldiers, strong support networks, the challenges of military culture, and preparation, as factors that impact an individual identity reconstruction and a successful transition into civilian life. Each category was broken down and discussed in this paper. These findings provide insight towards bringing more awareness of identity reconstruction, as well as information to better inform psychologists and various existing programs to be better suited to working with this unique population.