Social isolation and well-being in veterans with mental illness

Grenawalt, Teresa Ann; Lu, Junfei; Hamner, Karl; Gill, Christopher; Umucu, Emre

doi:10.1080/09638237.2021.2022625

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Social support is an important protective factor for student veterans as they adjust to college life. Research revealed that veterans may experience social isolation (e.g., Grenawalt, Lu et al, 2022;McGuire et al, 2022). Similarly, student veterans may experience interpersonal problems due to difficulties related to their nontraditional student status, health problems, and transition to college life (Barry et al, 2014;.…”

Section: College Adjustment/well-being Health-related Quality Of Life...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Optimism, Hope, Resilience, Coping Flexibility, Secure Attachment, and PERMA as a Well-Being Model for College Life Adjustment of Student Veterans: A Hierarchical Regression Analysis

Umucu

Chan

Phillips

et al. 2022

Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin

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The purpose of this study is to examine (a) to what extent demographic covariates, foundational and emerging positive psychology traits (FEPPTs), and PERMA uniquely predict college life adjustment, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and life satisfaction of student military veterans; (b) PERMA as a happiness and well-being model for college life adjustment, HRQOL, and life satisfaction among student veterans; and (c) FEPPTs as predictors of PERMA. In addition, we tested whether total PERMA scores mediate the relationship between service-connected disability and college adjustment. A total of 205 student veterans responded to an online survey. Results revealed that demographic covariates (e.g., service-connected disability), FEPPTs (e.g., optimism), and PERMA (e.g., positive emotion) significantly accounted for college life adjustment, HRQOL, and life satisfaction of student veterans. In addition, a mediation analysis revealed that PERMA partially mediated the relationship between service-connected disability and college life adjustment of student veterans. The results of this study provide empirical supports for the use of PERMA as a comprehensive well-being model of college life adjustment for student veterans.

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Section: College Adjustment/well-being Health-related Quality Of Life...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Optimism, Hope, Resilience, Coping Flexibility, Secure Attachment, and PERMA as a Well-Being Model for College Life Adjustment of Student Veterans: A Hierarchical Regression Analysis

Umucu

Chan

Phillips

et al. 2022

Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin

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“…In addition to the prevalence and risk for isolation, it is important to understand how veterans might experience isolation because of the known correlates to mental health and social functioning. Past research suggests social isolation is associated with a range of mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation (Grenawalt et al, 2022;Teo et al, 2018), issues with family and social relationships (Sharp et al, 2021), and is associated with higher health care utilization (Beutel et al, 2017). Furthermore, people with preexisting mental health conditions are at increased risk for feelings of loneliness during social isolation.…”

Section: Correlates Of Social Isolationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the trajectory and correlates of social isolation for veterans across a 6-month period during COVID-19

McGuire¹,

Elmore²,

Szabo³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Social isolation is a relevant problem for veterans who are at risk for disengaging from others as a function of transition stress from military life to civilian life, and given high rates of exposure to trauma and psychological distress. Few researchers have examined social isolation in veterans over time, particularly during COVID-19 that led to significant barriers and restrictions on social interactions. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to assess veterans’ experience of social isolation and its mental health and social functioning correlates during a 6-month period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 188 United States veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, who completed a total of four assessments: one every two months for a total duration of six months. Surveys included measures of global mental health and social functioning as indicated by perceived emotional support, quality of marriage, and couple satisfaction. Multilevel modeling was used to assess 1) growth models to determine whether social isolation changed over time and the trajectory of that change (i.e., linear or quadratic); and 2) whether social isolation was related to both concurrent and prospective indicators of mental health and social functioning. All analyses included person mean centered and grand mean centered isolation to assess for within-and between-person effects. Veterans reported a quadratic trajectory in social isolation that decreased slightly and stabilized over time. Findings indicate that higher social isolation, at both the within- and between-person level, was negatively associated with concurrent emotional support, mental health, quality of marriage, and couple satisfaction. However, all prospective effects were nonsignificant at the within-person level. Results suggest although isolation may decrease over time, veterans report worse mental health and social functioning during times when they report higher levels of social isolation compared to themselves and others. Future work is needed to determine if interventions can be applied during those times to prevent or target those negative associations.

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“…Finally, a wide range of social factors affect Veterans, ranging from separation from social support up to and including homelessness. [12][13][14] Given the rising rates of suicide over recent years, the solution to effectively reducing suicide requires the development of interventions based on a comprehensive understanding of the biopsychosocial factors that contribute to suicide in Veterans.…”

Section: The Problem and The Solutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, a wide range of s ocial factors affect Veterans, ranging from separation from social support up to and including homelessness 12–14…”

Section: The Problem and The Solutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building a Comprehensive Biopsychosocial Database to Identify Underlying Causes of Suicide and Improve Suicide Prevention

Preskorn¹

2022

Journal of Psychiatric Practice

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In June, 2022, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced an initiative to reduce death due to suicide in US Veterans. This column is based on a proposal written for that initiative, as well as on an earlier psychopharmacology column in this journal that reviewed the statistics and the genetics of suicide, and the US medicolegal death investigation system. This system is composed of 3137 county coroner or medical examiner offices across the country that are responsible under state and local law for investigating deaths that are not explained by natural causes and are suspicious and/or unattended. Thus, this system gathers data concerning all deaths due to suicide. Currently this death investigation system costs US taxpayers ∼$660 million per year, and it has determined that ∼45,000 Americans die from suicide each year. In the conduct of these investigations, a large amount of data is collected, including biological samples. While the demographic data are reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), little—if anything—is done with the collected biological material beyond its use in determining the cause of death of the individual. The earlier column on this topic advocated for the establishment of a central database to retain and utilize this information to further understand the biopsychosocial causes of suicide, with the goal of preventing suicides. This column describes a proposal submitted to the VA system for how such a system could initially be piloted in a small group of VA medical centers and then expanded to the entire system. This initial effort could then, in turn, serve as a model for expanding such data gathering to the entire US medicolegal death investigation system.

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Social isolation and well-being in veterans with mental illness

Cited by 14 publications

References 48 publications

Evaluating Optimism, Hope, Resilience, Coping Flexibility, Secure Attachment, and PERMA as a Well-Being Model for College Life Adjustment of Student Veterans: A Hierarchical Regression Analysis

Evaluating Optimism, Hope, Resilience, Coping Flexibility, Secure Attachment, and PERMA as a Well-Being Model for College Life Adjustment of Student Veterans: A Hierarchical Regression Analysis

Exploring the trajectory and correlates of social isolation for veterans across a 6-month period during COVID-19

Building a Comprehensive Biopsychosocial Database to Identify Underlying Causes of Suicide and Improve Suicide Prevention

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