Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families (2013) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
11 Recommendations
11 Recommendations
Pages 471-482
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 471... ...
Thus, the committee's conclusions and recommendations have been formed against a backdrop of constantly changing conditions. KEY FINDINGS The readjustment needs of service members, veterans, and families that have experienced deployment to OEF or OIF encompass a complex set of health, economic, and social issues.
|
From page 472... ...
For example, the support of large-scale, independent studies with longitudinal designs, probability sampling, comprehensive clinical assessment of key outcomes, and more fully specified models that include objective biologic measures should be considered. To inform its work during the second phase of its study, the committee read the literature, collected data and attempted data analyses, oversaw ethnographic research, and tabulated current
|
From page 473... ...
To capture the true long-term outcomes of deployment to war zones and plan services to address them, more data will be essential. The committee recommends that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs sponsor longitudinal studies to answer many of the questions regarding long-term effects of traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress disorder, and other mental-health disorders.
|
From page 474... ...
With respect to suicide prevention, DOD policy prohibits restricting access to privately owned weapons for those who might be at risk for of suicide, but research shows that restricting access to lethal means prevents suicides. VA has included Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for depression in its national rollout of evidence based treatments, however, there is not sufficient evidence to support its use as a first-line intervention.
|
From page 475... ...
DOD does not have a standardized process for assessing clinicians' competence to administer the Military Acute Concussion Evaluation for TBI. VA is implementing a robust clinician-training program to disseminate evidence-based psychotherapies, but the program appears to lack periodic clinician assessments beyond the 6-month training period to ensure that continued treatment fidelity is maintained.
|
From page 476... ...
In addition, most treatment interventions for family members have been developed and tested in civilian communities and lack evidence of their effectiveness for military families. The committee concludes that military families would benefit from increased efforts to identify, develop, and test new prevention and treatment interventions targeted toward military families, including interventions directed at children and adolescents.
|
From page 477... ...
The committee recommends that the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other relevant federal agencies fund research on the effects of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom deployments on communities. Such research should include current indicators of community well being, such as measures of economic performance, availability of social and support services, law-enforcement activity, and school and educational functioning.
|
From page 478... ...
Further study might focus on whether employment tax credits are a cost-effective means of expanding employment for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans and whether programs to counsel and prepare service members for long-term postservice careers are effectively implemented. The Post-9/11 GI Bill is one of the largest expansions of educational subsidies to veterans and their families on record, but its effectiveness is difficult to gauge.
|
From page 479... ...
The committee recommends that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs conduct a needs assessment to determine the numbers and types of providers needed to address the long-term health needs of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn active duty service members and veterans. The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs should determine the optimal team composition -- for example, MDs, PhDs, RNs, master's-trained professionals, and peer counselors -- needed to ensure that providers function efficiently and perform at the upper level of their credentials and privileges.
|
From page 480... ...
The two departments should examine issues related to women's circumstances and stressors -- such as military workplace stress, sexual harassment and assault, posttraumatic stress disorder, and premilitary trauma -- in an effort to reduce disparities and to provide health care that is sensitive to their needs and preferences. PROPOSED DATA ANALYSES There has been little quantitative characterization of the issues described in the legislation, but the committee identified a wide array of data and databases available in DOD, VA, and other federal agencies that could be used to address many of the questions posed by the legislation that motivated its work.
|
From page 481... ...
The committee believes that such coordination will greatly enhance the ability of researchers and the government to link data held by multiple agencies to allow the types of analyses recommended above.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.