Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Dereliction Of Duty: Homeless Veterans In America, Christopher R. Fee

English Faculty Publications

U.S. government efforts to help homeless veterans in America are not enough.

When I first began grappling with homelessness issues in my local community quite a number of years ago, Dave, then-director of the local homeless shelter in our small town, told me a story that illustrates some of the special circumstances faced by homeless veterans in America.

Dave said a community of homeless vets had based themselves in caves in the hills outside of town, and after one was stricken with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized, his ongoing recovery left health care providers with a thorny dilemma. Clearly, …

Mental Health Services For Military Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Crystal Lynn Toscano, Kanika Aisha Roberts

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has affected millions of veterans who have served in the United States Military. PTSD causes severe impairments in one's mental health, and is correlated with homelessness, substance abuse, and unemployment. Recently, the United States Department Veterans Affairs has been funded more to improve services of mental health and other health care services. Specifically, this study was interested in exploring the perceptions that veterans have of the quality of services that have been provided for PTSD.

Results indicated that the participants who utilized services felt individual and family therapy services were most helpful in reducing PTSD symptoms. …

Social Work Students’ Knowledge Of Veterans’ Needs And Issues, Sylvia H. Samy

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The veteran population is under-served. Due to the current circumstances of increased deployment and the rate of returning soldiers from current wars (Iraq and Afghanistan); there is an increased demand for competent social workers to provide them with services. Furthermore, the Department of Veteran Affairs is the number one employer of social workers. Hence, measuring the knowledge of social work students is essential to explore their competence of working with the veteran population. The study presents an exploratory research method, using a quantitative approach. Further, students’ knowledge was measured in ten domains: Benefits and Services, Service Related Disabilities, PTSD/Trauma, Childcare, …

Want To Honor Vets This Memorial Day? Help End Veterans' Homelessness, Christopher R. Fee

English Faculty Publications

Memorial Day is a day for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

As we gather around the grill with loved ones, let's also remember veterans who survived their term of service only to find themselves without a place of their own to celebrate holidays.

When I first began grappling with homelessness in my local community years ago, Dave, then the director of the local homeless shelter in our small town, told me a story which illustrates some of the special circumstances faced by homeless veterans in America. [excerpt]

Deployment Issues For Women Veterans And Their Children, Alea J. Johnson

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Deployment creates unique experiences and issues for women veterans and their children. Although each family has their own understanding of deployment, examining common issues throughout families may inform future practice with military families. For this research the deployment issues that are present for women veterans and their children were examined. A secondary data analysis analyzed eight participants (n=8) and their children who had discussions regarding non-deployment and deployment issues in addition to completing problem solving tasks. This study found that deployment issues for these families were sadness about the deployed parent being gone, talking about deployment, communicating during deployment, missing …

Impact And Performance Of The Supportive Services For Veteran Families (Ssvf) Program: Results From The Fy 2013 Program Year, Thomas Byrne, John Kuhn, Dennis P. Culhane, Susan Kane, Vincent Kane

Dennis P. Culhane

Estimating Cost Savings Associated With Hud-Vash Placement, Thomas Byrne, Christopher B. Roberts, Dennis P. Culhane, Vincent Kane

Dennis P. Culhane

Increasing Military Social Work Knowledge: An Evaluation Of Learning Outcomes., Mary Ann Forgey, Sharon L Young

Social Service Faculty Publications

Service members and veterans face a myriad of health mental health and social challenges stemming from the combat and operational stressors experienced during deployment and the challenges of reintegration to civilian life. To intervene effectively with this population social workers must be knowledgeable about these issues and the cultural context within which they occur. While schools of social work across the country are developing course work in military social work, little is known about the learning outcomes of these courses. This paper describes a military social work course that was developed to increase student preparedness to work with a military …

The Influence Of Veteran Status, Psychiatric Diagnosis, And Traumatic Brain Injury On Inadequate Sleep, Andrew S. London, Sarah A. Burgard, Janet Wilmoth

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Adequate sleep is essential for health, social participation, and wellbeing. We use 2010 and 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data (N = 35,602) to examine differences in sleep adequacy between: non-veterans; non-combat veterans with no psychiatric diagnosis or traumatic brain injury (TBI); combat veterans with no psychiatric diagnosis or TBI; and veterans (non-combat and combat combined) with a psychiatric diagnosis and/or TBI. On average, respondents reported 9.28 days of inadequate sleep; veterans with a psychiatric diagnosis and/or TBI reported the most—12.25 days. Multivariate analyses indicated that veterans with a psychiatric diagnosis and/or TBI had significantly more days of inadequate …

Cpt Vs Pe For Ptsd? Literature Review On Efficacy Of Cpt And Pe Based On Gender, Chronicity, And Race/Ethnicity, Christelle C. Sackey

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating mental health condition that can be diagnosed on veterans who have been exposed to traumatic events. PTSD not only has negative physical symptoms, but it also compromises veterans’ chances of living a productive live. Efforts to find effective treatments for PTSD has led to the development of a few form of therapies, including Prolonged Exposure(PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) which have received special attention for military related PTSD. After more than 20 years of research, it has been proven that CPT and PE are the best treatments of choice for PTSD. However, …

Best Practices For Implementing The Green House® Model At The Tomah Veterans Administration, Jesana Denter-Eckelberg

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The Veterans Administration (VA) located in Tomah, WI is in the process of a cultural transformation to create an environment that is welcoming, aesthetically pleasing, and accommodating to those with special needs. One effort in this transformation is the inclusion of a new concept, The Green House® model, which is a welcomed change to the large facility that has been traditionally known as an institutional setting for treating Veterans with chronic psychiatric conditions. The purpose of this Capstone Project was to conduct a literature review examining best practices in organizational culture and structure, employee management practices, and patient care models …