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VA mental health services utilization in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the first year of receiving new mental health diagnoses
Author(s) -
Seal Karen H.,
Maguen Shira,
Cohen Beth,
Gima Kristian S.,
Metzler Thomas J.,
Ren Li,
Bertenthal Daniel,
Marmar Charles R.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20493
Subject(s) - mental health , veterans affairs , medical diagnosis , medicine , psychiatry , mental health care , health care , family medicine , pathology , economics , economic growth
Little is known about mental health services utilization among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans receiving care at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities. Of 49,425 veterans with newly diagnosed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), only 9.5% attended 9 or more VA mental health sessions in 15 weeks or less in the first year of diagnosis. In addition, engagement in 9 or more VA treatment sessions for PTSD within 15 weeks varied by predisposing variables (age and gender), enabling variables (clinic of first mental health diagnosis and distance from VA facility), and need (type and complexity of mental health diagnoses). Thus, only a minority of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with new PTSD diagnoses received a recommended number and intensity of VA mental health treatment sessions within the first year of diagnosis.