Veterans’ Transition Out of the Military and Knowledge of Mental Health Disorders

Abstract

There is a need for research to understand veteran’s mental health and how they use resources, like the Veteran’s Affairs and non-profit organizations. This study serves to further our understanding about veterans’ knowledge on this subject. This study adds to the literature by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 veterans who had deployed on either United States military bases or ships, or peace-keeping missions, overseas after 9/11. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and thoroughly analyzed using a narrative approach. Five important themes emerged from the interviews: prevalence of mental health disorders, knowledge of disorders and resources, barriers to seeking help, types of resources available, and motivations to seek help. Although this study aimed to explicitly understand knowledge, the inductive research process produced four other themes that became pivotal in understanding why veterans were skeptical to seek help.

Keywords

• military
• mental health
• knowledge
• resources
• prevalence
• stigma