TY - JOUR
T1 - Perspectives of veterans with mild traumatic brain injury on community reintegration
T2 - Making sense of unplanned separation from service
AU - Libin, Alexander V.
AU - Schladen, Manon Maitland
AU - Scholten, Joel
AU - Dromerick, Alexander W.
AU - Danford, Ellen
AU - Cichon, Samantha
AU - Bruner, Dwan
AU - Llorente, Maria
AU - Zapata, Slavomir
AU - Blackman, Marc R.
AU - Magruder, Kathryn M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Orthopsychiatric Association.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - For veterans separated from the military as a result of acquired mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), the transition from a military identity to a civilian one is complicated by health, cognitive, and psychosocial factors. We conducted in-depth interviews with 8 veterans with mTBI to understand how they perceived the experience of departure from the military, rehabilitation services provided at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Polytrauma Network Site, and reentry into civilian life. Two distinct patterns of thinking about community reintegration emerged. The first pattern was characterized by the perception of a need to fade one's military identity. The second pattern, conversely, advanced the perception of a need to maintain the integrity of one's military identity though living in a civilian world. These perceptions may be linked to individuals' roles while in the military and whether violent acts were committed in carrying out the mission of service, acts not consonant with positive self-appraisal in the civilian world. The crisis of unplanned, involuntary separation from the military was universally perceived as a crisis equal to that of the precipitating injury itself. The perception that civilians lacked understanding of veterans' military past and their current transition set up expectations for interactions with health care providers, as well as greatly impacting relationships with friend and family. Our veterans' shared perceptions support existing mandates for greater dissemination of military culture training to health care providers serving veterans both at VA and military facilities as well as in the civilian community at large.
AB - For veterans separated from the military as a result of acquired mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), the transition from a military identity to a civilian one is complicated by health, cognitive, and psychosocial factors. We conducted in-depth interviews with 8 veterans with mTBI to understand how they perceived the experience of departure from the military, rehabilitation services provided at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Polytrauma Network Site, and reentry into civilian life. Two distinct patterns of thinking about community reintegration emerged. The first pattern was characterized by the perception of a need to fade one's military identity. The second pattern, conversely, advanced the perception of a need to maintain the integrity of one's military identity though living in a civilian world. These perceptions may be linked to individuals' roles while in the military and whether violent acts were committed in carrying out the mission of service, acts not consonant with positive self-appraisal in the civilian world. The crisis of unplanned, involuntary separation from the military was universally perceived as a crisis equal to that of the precipitating injury itself. The perception that civilians lacked understanding of veterans' military past and their current transition set up expectations for interactions with health care providers, as well as greatly impacting relationships with friend and family. Our veterans' shared perceptions support existing mandates for greater dissemination of military culture training to health care providers serving veterans both at VA and military facilities as well as in the civilian community at large.
KW - Community reintegration
KW - PTSD
KW - TBI
KW - Veterans
KW - Warrelated trauma
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85013108619&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85013108619&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/ort0000253
DO - 10.1037/ort0000253
M3 - Article
C2 - 28206800
AN - SCOPUS:85013108619
SN - 0002-9432
VL - 87
SP - 129
EP - 138
JO - American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
JF - American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
IS - 2
ER -