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With over 1.6 million service members having deployed as a result of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and a shortage in available Veterans Affairs (VA) services, there is an urgent need for community-based care for our veterans. The Homefront Enabling Relationships, Opportunities, through Support (HEROES) Care Program provides holistic, community-based support for service members and their families throughout the deployment cycle (predeployment, deployment, transition, and reintegration). This study sought to evaluate the efficacy of a pilot version of HEROES Care in mitigating mental health symptoms in service members postdeployment. Using a posttest only, nonequivalent control group design, a unit of Army Reservists (N = 64) was administered measures of posttraumatic stress symptomatology, depressive symptomatology, and substance abuse following their return from deployment to Iraq. HEROES Care participants were also administered a qualitative questionnaire. No significant differences were found on quantitative measures of mental health symptomatology between those soldiers who received HEROES Care and those who did not. Qualitative responses suggested HEROES Care had a positive impact on both service members and their families. Implications of these findings are discussed and limitations of the current study and directions for future research are explored.
Advisor: | Gregory, Robert J. |
Commitee: | Aten, Jamie D., Yangarber-Hicks, Natalia |
School: | Wheaton College |
Department: | Clinical Psychology |
School Location: | United States -- Illinois |
Source: | DAI-B 73/06, Dissertation Abstracts International |
Source Type: | DISSERTATION |
Subjects: | Mental health, Clinical psychology, Military studies |
Keywords: | Combat trauma, Combat veterans, Community-based, Posttraumatic stress syndrome |
Publication Number: | 3495037 |
ISBN: | 978-1-267-17671-4 |