Abstract: Examining Substance Use and Mental Health Problems Among Veterans in Tennessee (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)
Search | Browse by Day | Presenter Index
All in-person and virtual presentations are in Eastern Standard Time Zone (EST).

SSWR 2024 Poster Gallery: as a registered in-person and virtual attendee, you have access to the virtual Poster Gallery which includes only the posters that elected to present virtually. The rest of the posters are presented in-person in the Poster/Exhibit Hall located in Marquis BR Salon 6, ML 2. The access to the Poster Gallery will be available via the virtual conference platform the week of January 11. You will receive an email with instructions how to access the virtual conference platform.

372P Examining Substance Use and Mental Health Problems Among Veterans in Tennessee

Schedule:
Friday, January 12, 2024
Marquis BR Salon 6, ML 2 (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)
* noted as presenting author
Arpana Karki, Graduate Student, East Tennessee State University, Apt 12, TN
Manik Ahuja, PhD, Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
Mary Brannock, Graduate Student, East Tennessee State University, TN
Devonte Mitchell, Undergraduate Student, East Tennessee State University, TN
Background: The Tennessee veterans represents 8.3 percent of state’s adult population, these includes the service members from World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Some of the research done on veterans shows that approximately 14% to 16% of U.S. service members deployed suffer from mental health challenges like PTSD or depression and substance abuse. The issue of mental health and substance abuse worsen among veterans populations while transitioning to civil life. The mental health symptoms among 1,239 American veterans assessed online one month prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States through next year shows slight increase in mental health symptoms over time. The proposed study examines the association between veteran status and depression, alcohol use, and smoking in Tennessee.

Learning Objectives: 1) Identify how substance use can affect mental health of veterans.

2) Analyze the association between substance use and mental health among veterans.

Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the 2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System a nationally representative U.S. telephone-based survey of adults aged 18 years and extracted data for Tennessee (n=4,788). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the association between coronary artery disease and depression. We controlled for past month income, race/ethnicity, educational status, gender, and age.

Results: Overall, among U.S. military veterans 23.7% (n=145) were diagnosed with depression, 46.6% consumed alcohol in the last 30 days, while 15.2% (n=93) smoked cigarettes within the last 30 days. U.S military veterans status (OR=1.40, 95% CI, 1.12, 1.74) along with low income (OR=2.21, 95% CI, 1.91, 2.55) and female gender (OR=2.07, 95% CI, 1.78, 2.41) was significantly associated with depression. U.S military veteran status was not associated with alcohol use or smoking.

Conclusion: The results implicate that the veterans in Tennessee are on higher risks of depression and alcohol consumption than non-veterans. Findings highlight the need of ongoing treatment and social support for the veterans population in Tennessee. Additional research is needed to understand the type of treatment and social support for this population.

Keywords: Coronary Heart Disease, Mental Health Disorders, Health disparities in Tennessee

Back to: ePoster Presentations VII
<< Previous Abstract | Next Abstract >>