Broadening the focus in supporting reintegrating Iraq and Afghanistan veterans: Six key domains of functioning.

Abstract

As the major ground troop presence in the Middle East is reduced, it is time to reflect, maximize lessons learned, and look forward to what lies ahead for the nearly 2.6 million service members of the United States military who have deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn. A systematic review of the literature on postdeployment functioning of Iraq and Afghanistan troops was conducted. Findings are described and contextualized in terms of service members' ongoing strengths, needs, and challenges. The corpus of research on deployed personnel indicates that service members demonstrate resilience in the face of war-related stressors. However, postdeployment impairment in 6 functional domains emerged in the literature review, including mental health, social and role functioning, relationship functioning and family life, spirituality, physical health, and financial well-being. Although risk factors and future trajectories vary across these domains, psychiatric difficulties are a consistent predictor of a worsened course. Implications for clinical practice are described based on the review findings. To promote wellbeing in the years ahead, it is important that service members are supported in their various roles (such as in the classroom, the workforce, and the family). In addition, routine assessment of functioning across domains is highly recommended for postdeployment service members.

Social Cognitive Training Improves Emotional Processing and Reduces Aggressive Attitudes in Ex-combatants

“…Former combatants have shown high scores on the Appetitive Aggression Scale (Köbach et al, 2015). Higher scores on this scale are linked to an increased risk to get involved in physical confrontations, relational violence, difficulties to regulate anger (Orcutt et al, 2003; Shea et al, 2013), and larger prevalence of externalized conduct disorder (Elbogen et al, 2014; Sherman et al, 2015). Using automatic classification algorithms (i.e., Support Vector Machine), Quintero-Zea et al (2017) recently found that proactive (i.e., instrumental) and reactive (i.e., impulsive) aggression scores segregated Colombian ex-combatants from controls.…”

Mental health symptoms and the reintegration difficulty of military couples following deployment: A longitudinal application of the relational turbulence model

“…A growing body of work has investigated the well‐being of returning service members and at‐home partners after homecoming (Bommarito et al, ; Currier, Lisman, Harris, Tait, & Erbes, ; Sherman et al, ). The emerging evidence suggests that both mental health symptoms (Balderrmana‐Durbin et al, 2017; Gibbs, Clinton‐Sherrod, & Johnson, ) and relationship processes (Knobloch, Ebata, McGlaughlin, & Ogolsky, ) predict adjustment upon reunion, but these literature are largely separate and would be enriched by synthesis.…”

“…Difficulty with reintegration refers to the personal and relational stressors that military families experience upon homecoming (Chandra et al, ; Chandra et al, ; Knobloch, Ebata, McGlaughlin, & Ogolsky, ). Delineating the predictors of reintegration difficulty among returning service members and at‐home partners is important for advancing theory about transitions in relationships (e.g., Solomon, Knobloch, Theiss, & McLaren, ) and identifying evidence‐based guidelines to help military couples navigate reunion (e.g., Bommarito, Sherman, Rudi, Mikal, & Borden, ; Sherman, Larsen, & Borden, ).…”

Completion of a Veteran-Focused Civic Service Program Improves Health and Psychosocial Outcomes in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans With a History of Traumatic Brain Injury

“…9,30 Rehabilitation after a TBI, even outside the challenge of reintegration, is likewise associated with the same hurdles in addition to an increased likelihood of PTSD and major depression diagnoses, 31 thus likely compounding difficulties during reintegration and rehabilitation from TBI for this subgroup. Furthermore, studies have shown that prevalence rates of mental health problems and reported cases of TBI increase with increasing time home from deployment, 32–34 calling for a need for effective health and wellness promotion interventions to be available to service members returning from deployment.…”