Exploring the suitability and acceptability of peer support for older veterans

Abstract

Purpose Informal social support is often sought by veterans to support reminiscence or cope with traumatic memories. However, it can also encourage unhelpful ways of coping, such as avoidance, or may be absent altogether. This project is borrowed from the growing peer support literature. The purpose of this paper is to explore the suitability of peer support services to enhance the wellbeing for older veterans, when naturally occurring support is absent or unhelpful. Design/methodology/approach This was a sequentially staged research programme involving a scoping review of current practice and evidence, and a consultation with veterans. In total, ten veterans (nine male, one female) took part in the consultation (M=66 years). Findings Peer support was considered suitable, particularly in addressing loneliness and social isolation. There was an understandable concern regarding its use with more complex issues such as trauma. An added issue was the implicit assumption that this consultation concerned transition; supporting younger veteran as they move from military to civilian life. This mirrored the focus of current UK policy and affected the focus of the consultation. Issues were also raised around the sustainability of services more broadly. Social implications Peer support is appropriate in supporting older veterans, but must be implemented in a sustainable way. Raising awareness of the needs of older veterans in older adult services is an important implication for service development and delivery. Originality/value There is a considerable lack of research concerning older veterans, particularly concerning their formal and informal social support needs. This paper addresses the current gap in the literature.

A point of connection? Wellbeing, the veteran identity and older adults

“…Current intervention designs most frequently use professional staff to deliver support (Cattan et al, 2005); based on the findings of this study, there may be a role for informal peer or near-peer support. Preliminary work by others supports this claim (Burnell, Needs and Gordon, 2017). Because veterans agree with the idea that only other veterans can understand their experiences, they may find peer support to be more authentic than that experienced in professionally-delivered interventions.…”

“…Those who have undertaken military service tell a story about their experience that they feel cannot be understood by those who have not had a similar experience. Veterans see the connection generated by shared experiences as one that is genuine and authentic (Burnell, Needs and Gordon, 2017).…”

Loneliness and social isolation of military veterans: systematic narrative review

“…Eleven studies included veterans of all ages [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], two of which were specifically aimed at understanding age-related differences between veterans in the sample [21,23]. Five studies specifically focused on older veterans with age-related inclusive criteria ranging from 51+ years to 65+ years [30][31][32][33][34] and one study did not report details of age [35].…”

“…Three studies focused only on male veterans [21,25,31], one study looked only at sexual minority veterans [23] and one study considered only veterans with HIV/AIDS [25]. Twelve studies were carried out in the USA [19,[21][22][23][24][25]29,[31][32][33][34][35], one study was carried out in the UK [30] and four studies were carried out in Israel [20,[26][27][28].…”

“…Two studies used a mixed-methods approach [25,32], three utilized a qualitative approach [28][29][30] and 12 used a quantitative approach [19][20][21][22][23][24]26,27,31,[33][34][35]. Within each broad methodological approach, various specific methods were employed: one study undertook a scoping review and focus group method [30], two studies analysed call logs and call assessment checklists [21,24], four studies used semi-structured interviews [25,28,29,32] and 12 studies utilized questionnaires [19,20,22,23,[25][26][27][31][32][33][34][35]. Of the studies using questionnaires, nine studies specifically measured loneliness or social isolation, using a version of the UCLA loneliness scale self-report scale [20,22,26,27,33,35], the leave behind questionnaire [31], the loneliness scale [19] and the Lubben social network scale …”