Social Workers’ Observations of the Needs of the Total Military Community

Abstract

Researchers surveyed licensed social workers from 5 Mid-Atlantic states to explore their perspectives on the current state of mental health and service delivery for military service workers, families, and contractors. Social workers identified needs in the following areas: mental health, physical health and wellness, social and environmental, interpersonal and family, and military-specific needs. The major ity of needs were most critical during the postdeployment stage. Education related to the observed needs was reported; social workers were most interested in learning about military culture and how to coordinate resources within the community to support the total military community. Suggestions for social work education and future research are discussed. R ecent deploym ent to Iraq and A fghanistan, specifically O peration Enduring Freedom and O peration Iraqi F reedom (O E F /O IF ), created an age o f "persistent conflict" (Casey, 2011, p. 1) for the international com munity. T he unique circum stances o f these conflicts directly affect soldiers and th e n fam ily m em bers. Researchers have shown that the m ental and physical health care needs o f returning U.S. service m em bers and their fam ilies are acute and steadily increasing (Flynn & H assan, 2010; H assan, Jackson, Lindsay, & Rank, 2010; Possem ato, Wade, A ndersen, & O uim ette, 2010). Som e o f the circum stances unique to the O E F /O IF conflicts include the m il itary's increased reliance on deploying R eservists and N ational G uard service m em bers (Hall, 2008), increased use o f m ultiple deploym ents, and shortened tim efram es betw een deploym ents (Honig, 2010). In addition, soldiers are returning hom e w ith m ore traum atic and serious injuries than in past m ilitary conflicts (Flynn & H assan, 2010).In addition to service m em bers' acute m ental health concerns resulting from com bat, the W hite H ouse (2011) recently reported that 9% o f service m em bers surveyed 3 to 6 m onths post com bat deploym ent reported sym ptom s o f posttraum atic stress disorder (PTSD), m ore than 27% reported sym ptom s o f depression, and m ore than 19% reported signs or sym ptom s o f traum atic brain injury (TBI). The influx o f soldiers and fam ilies requesting m ental health services has reached exponential proportions and extends w ell beyond the capacity o f the U.S. D epartm ent o f D efense (DoD ) and U.S. D epartm ent o f Veteran A ffairs' (VA) health care facilities and out patient resources (Taanielian et al., 2008). The current increase in dem and has resulted in a