Psychological distress among cohabitating female partners of combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was examined in a cross-sectional study using a modified version of the Health Belief Model. A convenience sample of 89 cohabitating female partners of male veterans in outpatient PTSD treatment was interviewed by telephone using a structured interview. Partners endorsed high levels of psychological distress with elevations on clinical scales at or exceeding the 90th percentile. Severe levels of overall psychological distress, depression, and suicidal ideation were prevalent among partners. Multivariate analyses revealed that perceived threat, recent mental health treatment, and level of involvement with veterans predicted global partner psychological distress. Partner burden was predicted by partner self-efficacy, perceived threat, barriers to mental health treatment, and partner treatment engagement. These findings are compelling since they demonstrate that partners of veterans with combat-related PTSD experience significant levels of emotional distress that warrant clinical attention. Psychological distress and partner burden were each associated with a unique combination of predictors, suggesting that although these constructs are related, they have distinct correlates and potentially different implications within the family environment. Future research should examine these constructs separately using causal modeling analyses to identify modifiable targets for interventions to reduce psychological distress among partners of individuals with PTSD.
Even when interventions are shown to be both clinically effective and cost-effective within a system of care, they are rarely sustained beyond the period of external funding. The reason may be that these interventions are often developed and introduced in a "top-down" manner, with little input from frontline clinicians. The purpose of this article is to describe a "bottom-up" approach in which services researchers assist frontline clinicians in testing interventions that clinicians themselves have devised. This approach is explored in the clinical partnership program developed by the Veterans Healthcare Administration's South Central Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center. The program is expected to expand the evaluation and research capacity of clinicians, enhance the collaborative skills of services researchers, and result in interventions that are more likely to be sustained over time.
The objectives of this study were to perform an initial needs assessment of partners of Vietnam veterans with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to assess the partners' current rates of treatment use. A telephone survey was conducted with 89 cohabitating female partners of male combat veterans who were receiving outpatient PTSD treatment at two Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. Although large majorities of partners rated individual therapy and family therapy to help cope with PTSD in the family as highly important, only about one-quarter of the partners had received any mental health care in the previous six months. The most commonly requested service was a women-only group.
Results indicate that the extent to which patients chose to remain in treatment and follow treatment recommendations was rarely an all-or-nothing phenomenon. In a disadvantaged population such decisions seem to be influenced by the beliefs of the patient about what will and will not be effective in his or her individual case, an ongoing self-assessment of well-being, and the logistical barriers that come into play.
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