Concerns about the health of veterans of recent military conflicts have given rise to broader questions regarding the health consequences of service in any major military engagement. The Veterans Program Enhancement Act of 1998 directed the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to help develop a plan for establishing' a national center (or centers) for the study of war-related illnesses and postdeployment health issues. In response to this legislation, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a committee of experts. The charge to the committee was to (1) assist the VA in developing a plan for establishing a national center (or centers) for the study of war-related illnesses and postdeployment health issues, and (2) assess preliminary VA plans and make recommendations regarding such efforts.
Textbooks of Military Medicine. Patrick Kelley, specialty editor. Explores the various natural and manmade challenges faced by today's soldier upon mobilization and deployment. Offers comprehensive research on a range of topics related to preventive medicine, including a historic perspective on the principles of military preventive medicine, national mobilization and training, preparation for deployment, and occupational and environmental issues during sustainment.
Approximately 4 million U.S. service members took part in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Shortly after troops started returning from their deployments, some active-duty service members and veterans began experiencing mental health problems. Given the stressors associated with war, it is not surprising that some service members developed such mental health conditions as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance use disorder. Subsequent epidemiologic studies conducted on military and veteran populations that served in the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq provided scientific evidence that those who fought were in fact being diagnosed with mental illnesses and experiencing mental healthâ€"related outcomesâ€"in particular, suicideâ€"at a higher rate than the general population. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the quality, capacity, and access to mental health care services for veterans who served in the Armed Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn. It includes an analysis of not only the quality and capacity of mental health care services within the Department of Veterans Affairs, but also barriers faced by patients in utilizing those services.
Includes a foreword by Major General David A. Rubenstein. From the editor: "71F, or "71 Foxtrot," is the AOC (area of concentration) code assigned by the U.S. Army to the specialty of Research Psychology. Qualifying as an Army research psychologist requires, first of all, a Ph.D. from a research (not clinical) intensive graduate psychology program. Due to their advanced education, research psychologists receive a direct commission as Army officers in the Medical Service Corps at the rank of captain. In terms of numbers, the 71F AOC is a small one, with only 25 to 30 officers serving in any given year. However, the 71F impact is much bigger than this small cadre suggests. Army research psychologists apply their extensive training and expertise in the science of psychology and social behavior toward understanding, preserving, and enhancing the health, well being, morale, and performance of Soldiers and military families. As is clear throughout the pages of this book, they do this in many ways and in many areas, but always with a scientific approach. This is the 71F advantage: applying the science of psychology to understand the human dimension, and developing programs, policies, and products to benefit the person in military operations. This book grew out of the April 2008 biennial conference of U.S. Army Research Psychologists, held in Bethesda, Maryland. This meeting was to be my last as Consultant to the Surgeon General for Research Psychology, and I thought it would be a good idea to publish proceedings, which had not been done before. As Consultant, I'd often wished for such a document to help explain to people what it is that Army Research Psychologists "do for a living." In addition to our core group of 71Fs, at the Bethesda 2008 meeting we had several brand-new members, and a number of distinguished retirees, the "grey-beards" of the 71F clan. Together with longtime 71F colleagues Ross Pastel and Mark Vaitkus, I also saw an unusual opportunity to capture some of the history of the Army Research Psychology specialty while providing a representative sample of current 71F research and activities. It seemed to us especially important to do this at a time when the operational demands on the Army and the total force were reaching unprecedented levels, with no sign of easing, and with the Army in turn relying more heavily on research psychology to inform its programs for protecting the health, well being, and performance of Soldiers and their families."
Nearly 1.9 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001. Many service members and veterans face serious challenges in readjusting to normal life after returning home. This initial book presents findings on the most critical challenges, and lays out the blueprint for the second phase of the study to determine how best to meet the needs of returning troops and their families.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations
This book presents a decade of advances in the psychological, biological and social responses to disasters, helping medics and leaders prepare and react.
In 2009, RAND launched the Deployment Life Study to study military family readiness. This report presents analyses on marital relationships, family environment, psychological and behavioral health, child well-being, and military integration.
The impact of combat on service members' mental health has received considerable attention both in the popular press and in scholarly publications. Yet few books have focused on systematic, evidence-based attempts at preventing mental health problems and enhancing service members' well-being and resilience. This book is intended to fill that gap. The editors have gathered leading clinicians and researchers in military mental health to examine how mental health providers and military leaders can best moderate the negative impact of combat. Contributors discuss the importance of individual screening, training, peer support, leadership and organizational policies, as well as the development and implementation of large-scale mental health programs that incorporate these elements and more. The editors promote a broad occupational health model of prevention and include the latest research on delivering mental health services in pre-deployment, in-theater settings, and VA hospitals. The psychological health of not only service members but also military families is approached as an integral aspect of deployment psychology. The result is a ground-breaking book that emphasizes what we know-and don't know-about evidence-based interventions. It represents the first comprehensive review of mental health interventions across the deployment cycle and will help guide the field of military psychology in developing a much-needed support system for service members in the years to come.
