What the public should know about veterans returning from combat deployment to support reintegration: A qualitative analysis
Abstract: Consensus reports have called for interventions to educate civilians about the reintegration challenges that veterans experience. The current study describes veterans’ perspectives of what the public should know and what the public can do to help veterans reintegrate into civilian life. We conducted thematic analysis of written essays from a stratified random sample of 100 US veterans (half women, half deployed from National Guard or Reserves) from Afghanistan and Iraq military operations who had participated in the control writing condition from a randomized controlled trial of expressive writing to improve reintegration outcomes. Veterans described a military-civilian divide that makes reintegration difficult and recommended that the public help bridge this divide. The divide was attributable to the uniqueness of military culture and bonds, the personal changes associated with deployment, and the time it takes for veterans to reacclimate. Five themes captured what the public can do to foster veteran reintegration: understand deployment hardships; appreciate deployment accomplishments; assist veterans in getting professional help; listen, don’t judge; and recognize that employment is critical to reintegration. Themes were present across groupings by gender, type of military service and screening status for posttraumatic stress disorder. Findings can inform interventions that target the public’s understanding of and response to returning veteran. Consistent with an ecological model of reintegration, such interventions have the potential to foster successful reintegration.
Abstract: U.S. Air Force remotely piloted aircraft (USAF RPA) personnel face diverse stressors negatively affecting psychological health and military readiness. Prior research in diverse populations supports predictable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on occupational stressors, burnout, and more distal outcomes. Extending earlier studies linking broad variables (e.g., COVID-19 threat → work stress → burnout), the current study tests and refines an expanded mediation model based on multiple distinct pandemic concerns, occupational stressors, and burnout facets as antecedents of psychological distress mid-pandemic in RPA personnel (N = 496). Differential representation of demands, resources, and rewards evident across distinct occupational stressors in light of job demands/resources theory guided specification of mediated pathways. SEM analysis yielded moderate fit. Following removal of non-significant paths and addition of two interpretable direct paths, fit was improved, yielding seven dominant pandemic concern → occupational stressor → burnout → psychological distress pathways. In support of domain specification, five 'hub' variables (pandemic-driven change, personal stressors, workload, leader communication, and exhaustion) emerged as key intervention targets in mitigating distress in the USAF RPA community and similar populations during future pandemic-related crises.