scholarly journals The Mental Health of Older Veterans Ages 58-99 Years: 2016-2017 VE-HEROeS Findings

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 170-170
Author(s):  
Yasmin Cypel ◽  
Paula Schnurr ◽  
Robert Bossarte ◽  
William Culpepper ◽  
Aaron Schneiderman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Summary Score ◽  
Sampling Frame ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Veteran Status ◽  
Vietnam War Veterans

Abstract Mental health and its correlates were examined in U.S. Vietnam War veterans approximately fifty years after the War. The 2016-2017 VE-HEROeS (Vietnam Era Health Retrospective Observational Study) was a mail survey of the health of U.S. Vietnam War veterans who served between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975 and matched US non-veteran controls. ‘Veteran status’ represented wartime experience for three cohorts: ‘theater’ veterans with service in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos, non-theater veterans with service elsewhere, and non-veterans with no military service. Veterans and non-veterans, aged 58-99 years, were randomly selected from a veteran sampling frame (n=9.87 million) derived from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ USVETS dataset and a commercial address database, respectively. Questionnaires were mailed to 42,393 veterans and 6,885 non-veterans; the response rate for veterans was 45% (n=18,866) and 67% (n=4,530) for non-veterans. Weighted bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted to examine poor overall mental health, via the SF-8TM Mental Health Component Summary score (MCS), and other mental health measures by veteran status and socioeconomic, health, and other military characteristics. Nearly 50% of all theater veterans reported poor overall mental health (MCS<50). Prevalence of mental health measures was greatest for theater veterans and successively decreased for non-theater veterans and non-veterans. Key correlates significantly (P< 0.02) associated with poor MCS included veteran status, race/ethnicity, income, physical health, health perception, trauma, distress, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (Primary Care DSM-5 PTSD screen), and drug use. Results indicate a high burden of poor mental health among those who served in-theater.

scholarly journals Classification of Mental Health among Korean Vietnam War Veterans: A Latent Profile Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 637-637
Author(s):  
Hyunyup Lee ◽  
Carolyn Aldwin ◽  
Sungrok Kang ◽  
Xyle Ku
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Vietnam War Veterans ◽  
Latent Profile

Abstract We investigated the dimensional structure of mental health among aging Korean Veterans using latent profile analysis (LPA) on posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD), late onset stress symptomology (LOSS), and psychosocial well-being (PWB). The Korean Vietnam War Veterans Study consists of 367 men (Mage=72, SD=2.66). LPA identified five classes of mental health as best fitting the data. Most men were in the normal (38%) and moderate distress (31%) groups, while smaller proportions were in the low affect (13%) and severe distress (7%) groups. The resilient group (12%) had low PTSD, medium LOSS, and high PWB, and were highest on optimism, positive appraisals of military service, and social support. Negative and positive aspects of mental health outcomes were on separate dimensions rather than on a single bipolar dimension. Service providers should attempt to both reduce Veterans’ negative psychological symptoms and increase psychosocial well-being. Part of a symposium sponsored by the Aging Veterans: Effects of Military Service across the Life Course Interest Group.

scholarly journals Correlates of Psychological Well-being Among Korean Vietnam War Veterans

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 908-908
Author(s):  
Hyunyup Lee ◽  
Sungrok Kang ◽  
Soyoung Choun ◽  
Carolyn Aldwin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Vietnam Veterans ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Well Being ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Vietnam War Veterans

Abstract Prior research on Veterans’ mental health has largely focused on identifying risk and protective factors for negative psychological symptoms such as PTSD. However, mental health indicates not merely absence of psychopathology, but also the existence of positive psychological well-being (Keyes, 2005). Thus, the current study aimed to examine the correlates of psychological well-being, which is less studied, in an Asian sample, Korean veterans. Data for this 2017 study were from Korean Vietnam War Veterans Study. Participants were 348 male veterans, and their mean age was about 72 years old (SD = 2.7, range = 65-84). Using Keyes’ (2002) classification criteria, psychological well-being was divided into three types: flourishing (9.5%), moderately health (59.95%), and languishing (25.3%). Own-way analyses of variance showed that the groups did not differ in demographic variables (age, marital status, education, and income). Further, there were no differences in combat exposure, negative appraisals of military service, smoking, and alcohol consumption. However, significant group differences were found for resources; Scheffé's post-hoc analyses indicated that optimism, positive appraisals of military service, four types of social support (family, significant others, friend, and military peer), and self-rated health were significantly different among the groups, and highest in the flourishing group. The moderately health group showed higher levels of positive appraisals of military service and four types of social support than the languishing group. Thus, the majority (about 60%) of Korean Vietnam veterans were moderately psychologically healthy in this sample, but those with positive psychosocial resources were more likely to be healthiest.

scholarly journals MILITARY SERVICE AND LIFE SATISFACTION AMONG KOREAN VIETNAM WAR VETERANS

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. 646-647
Author(s):  
H Lee ◽  
S Choun ◽  
H Lee ◽  
S Kang ◽  
D Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Military Service ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Vietnam War Veterans

The Colonized Colonizers: Korean Experiences of the Vietnam War

1998 ◽  
Vol 7 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 217-240
Author(s):  
Jinim Park
Keyword(s):  
Vietnam War ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Agent Orange ◽  
District Court ◽  
The South ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
South Korean ◽  
The Vietnam War ◽  
Vietnam War Veterans

AbstractOn 15 February 1997, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that the Seoul District Court had rejected an appeal by the Korean Vietnam War veterans who had asked for compensation relating to the health effects of having been exposed to Agent Orange during their service in Vietnam.

Return to Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Martin Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Viet Nam ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
War Memory ◽  
War Narratives ◽  
Vietnam War Veterans

Between 1981 and 2016, thousands of American and Australian Vietnam War veterans returned to Việt Nam. This comparative, transnational oral history offers the first historical study of these return journeys. It shows how veterans returned in search of resolution, or peace, manifesting in shifting nostalgic visions of 'Vietnam.' Different national war narratives shaped their returns: Australians followed the 'Anzac' pilgrimage tradition, whereas for Americans the return was an anti-war act. Veterans met former enemies, visited battlefields, mourned friends, found new relationships, and addressed enduring legacies of war. Many found their memories of war eased by witnessing Việt Nam at peace. Yet this peacetime reality also challenged veterans' wartime connection to Vietnamese spaces. The place they were nostalgic for was Vietnam, a space in war memory, not Việt Nam, the country. Veterans drew from wartime narratives to negotiate this displacement, performing nostalgic practices to reclaim their sense of belonging.

Sleep Diaries of Vietnam War Veterans With Chronic PTSD: The Relationships Among Insomnia Symptoms, Psychosocial Stress, and Nightmares

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip R. Gehrman ◽  
Gerlinde C. Harb ◽  
Joan M. Cook ◽  
Holly Barilla ◽  
Richard J. Ross
Keyword(s):  
Vietnam War ◽  
Psychosocial Stress ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Sleep Diaries ◽  
Chronic Ptsd ◽  
Vietnam War Veterans ◽  
Insomnia Symptoms

scholarly journals Veterans in Prison for Sexual Offenses: Characteristics and Reentry Service Needs

Sexual Abuse ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 560-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea K. Finlay ◽  
Jim McGuire ◽  
Jennifer Bronson ◽  
Shoba Sreenivasan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sexual Offense ◽  
Service Needs ◽  
Sexual Offenses ◽  
Incarcerated Men ◽  
Veteran Status ◽  
Nationally Representative

Among prison-incarcerated men in the United States, more veterans (35%) have a sexual offense conviction than nonveterans (23%). Limited research has investigated factors explaining the link between military service and sexual offending. Nationally representative data from prison-incarcerated men ( n = 14,080) were used to examine the association between veteran status and sexual offenses, adjusting for demographic, childhood, and clinical characteristics. Veterans had 1.35 higher odds (95% confidence interval = [1.12, 1.62], p < .01) of a sexual offense than nonveterans. Among veterans, those who were homeless or taking mental health medications at arrest had lower odds and veterans with a sexual trauma history had higher odds of a sexual offense compared with other offense types. Offering mental health services in correctional and health care settings to address trauma experiences and providing long-term housing options can help veterans with sexual offenses as they transition from prison to their communities.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document