Military Spouse Mental Health Outcomes After Receiving Short-Term Counseling Services

Abstract

Research related to military spouses accessing community-based mental health care is limited. Evaluations identifying outcomes of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and resilience are scant. In this study, 71 military partners and spouses (age M = 39.79, SD = 11.32; 97.2% women) receiving counseling services at a nonprofit agency completed self-report measures of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and resilience pre–post a 6-week intervention. Less depressive symptoms predicted higher resilience at intake of services, with medium statistical significance. In pre–post analysis, no statistically significant changes were noted to anxiety, depressive symptoms, or resilience, with small to medium effect sizes and unimproved conditions with no clinical significance. This study represents an evaluation of services from a single site utilizing individual counseling services.

First responder resilience: A cross-sectional network analysis.

“…There have been studies using a resilience assessment in nontreatment-seeking FFs/EMTs (Joyce et al, 2019; Shahan et al, 2022), treatment-seeking first responders (Ponder, Walters, et al, 2023; Ramey et al, 2016), and one investigating military spouses (Prosek et al, 2023). Joyce et al (2019) utilized the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and found that those with high resilience at baseline predicted decreases in PTSD, depression, and alcohol use 6 months later.…”

“…Joyce et al (2019) utilized the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and found that those with high resilience at baseline predicted decreases in PTSD, depression, and alcohol use 6 months later. However, a six-session counseling intervention on trauma exposed military spouses did not produce statistical or clinically significant changes in resilience (Prosek et al, 2023).…”