Understanding Barriers to Mental Health Care for Recent War Veterans Through Photovoice

Bibliographic Data

ID4669728
AuthorsGala True (0000-0002-6965-8527, Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA), Khary K Riggs (0000-0002-1714-5834, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA), Khary K Rigg, Anneliese Butler (0000-0002-4928-1849, Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
Year2015
Volume25
Issue10
Pages1443-1455
Publication date2015-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Health Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1049732314562894
PMID25488935
OpenAlexW2128584049
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited39

Despite an urgent need for mental health care among U.S. service members returning from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, many veterans do not receive timely or adequate treatment. We used photovoice methods to engage veterans in identifying barriers to utilizing mental health services. Veterans described how key aspects of military culture and identity, highly adaptive during deployment, can deter help-seeking behavior and hinder recovery. Veterans' photographs highlighted how mental health symptoms and self-coping strategies operated as barriers to care. Many veterans' photos and stories revealed how negative health care encounters contributed to avoidance and abandonment of treatment; some veterans described these experiences as re-traumatizing. Visual methods can be a powerful tool for engaging recent war veterans in research. In particular, community-based participatory research approaches, which have rarely been used with veterans, hold great promise for informing effective interventions to improve access and enhance provision of patient-centered care for veterans

Community-based participatory research · Health care · Mental health · Mental health care · Military personnel · Participatory action research · Photovoice · Political science · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Service member · Sociology · Software deployment · Health Policy Implementation Science · Medicine · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Nursing · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology

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