WITHDRAWN: Mental Health Wellbeing of Caregiving Service Women

Background

Previous research involving military-connected families or families with members requiring caregivers   has not investigated the overlap between these families.  The Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs report there are approximately 20.9 million , roughly 7% of the population, veterans  (VA.gov, 2018).  In 2015, AARP estimated 18.2% of the population had been a caregiver within the prior 12 months (Weber-Raley & Smith, 2015).  If the intersection of these populations is proportional, there would be approximately 1.2% of the population that overlaps military connection and a caregiving.  The Department of Defense (2018) notes that approximately 16.4% of the total military force are women, yet AARP (2015) notes that 60% of caregivers are female. Women veterans are likely to be caregivers and more likely than their civilian counterparts to report mental health concerns, this being due to the impact of their military service on their mental wellbeing (Kelly, Skelton, Patel & Bradley, 2011).

This study seeks to compare self-reported mental health wellbeing in women veterans (as defined as current and former service women), who are caregivers, with those who are not caregivers. 

Methods

Drawing upon data from the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) 2017 survey, which included 1294 current and veteran service women, self-reported mental health issues were examined.

Using this data, comparative statistics were performed to identify differences in self-reported mental health wellbeing between self-disclosed caregivers and those who are not.  The SWAN data includes 223 currently serving, 1071 veterans or retirees, and 554 of the total who identified as caregivers.   

  Mental health wellbeing is self-reported in multiple variables including receiving a diagnosis by a clinician, avoiding thoughts related to military experience, somatic indicators of stress, and recurrent thoughts.

Results

The analysis indicates that there are significant differences between women veterans who identify as caregivers and women veterans who identify as not having caregiving responsibilities, in relation to mental health symptomology.  Caregivers of minors were less likely to report high levels of mental health symptomology (repeated troubling thoughts of stressful situations χ² (4) =10.296, p=.036 or somatic symptoms χ² (4) =10.095, p=.039).  While not significant, caregivers of disabled persons had a higher likelihood of having a depressive diagnosis (χ² (1) =3.657, p=.056)

Conclusions and Implications

Key findings indicate that the mental health status of women veterans who are caregivers may differ from service women who are not caregivers.  By understanding the mental health challenges women veterans face and that these can be compounded by caregiving duties, practitioners can provide better services to not only aid in overall mental health wellbeing but in the burden of caregiving by women veterans. Further research should be conducted in this area as women are taking a more substantial role in military combat and joining the military at increasing rates. As military sexual assault rates, long deployments, and stressors of the military lifestyle continue to be contributing factors for women veterans, the additional stressors they have (such as caregiving) demand to be considered in their overall mental health wellbeing.