Deployment Health in Regular Military Women
Condition: Military Physical and Sexual Trauma; Combat Trauma; PTSD; TBI
MeSH terms: Wounds and Injuries; Sexual Trauma
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to determine potential risk factors for physical and sexual
      assault in regular military women (as opposed to Reserve and National Guard). In addition,
      this study seeks to determine associations between service women's violence exposures and:
      current physical and mental health status (e.g. PTSD), and access to and use of DoD, DVA and
      civilian healthcare.
    

Detailed description: 
      Background: The proposed study of Regular Military service women builds on and extends a
      funded VA HSR&D grant currently investigating similar objectives in Reserves and National
      Guard (R/NG) service women. This proposed study addresses the radically changing DoD and DVA
      health care delivery needs of two priority populations: women exposed to combat, and women
      sexually assaulted during military. There is a limited understanding of the complex
      relationship between these traumatic exposures and women's health outcomes, such as
      post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) and with their
      subsequent health service use or barriers to care.

      Objectives: The objectives are: 1) To identify and describe organizational, situational, and
      individual risk factors for physical and sexual assault (i.e., victimization) in women who
      have served or are currently serving in the Regular Military in Operation Enduring Freedom
      and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) by deployment status (those who are deployed to combat
      related regions once, those deployed more than once, those serving in non-combat related
      areas outside of the continental United States (US), or those serving within the continental
      US. 2) To determine associations between PTSD, TBI, and physical and sexual assault during
      OEF/OIF with current physical and mental health status and health risk behaviors by
      deployment status. 3) To identify current internal and external barriers to DoD, DVA, and
      civilian health services in relationship to women's deployment and victimization status and
      the association between PTSD and TBI; 4) To identify and describe differences between Regular
      Military and R/NG populations for each of these objectives.

      Methods: We propose a cross sectional study design with two sequential phases. Phase 1 would
      include focus groups to refine the current study interview specific to Regular Military
      populations. Phase 2 would involve the identification and successful interviewing of 669
      Regular Military service women, using random sampling with stratification by deployment
      status, state of service accession, and service branch. Building on our current study, women
      will be selected from five states: Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Potential
      study participants will be mailed an information summary and asked to take part in a study
      assessing the deployment health of military women. 1058 women will be contacted to obtain the
      target of 669 completed interviews. Consenting participants (167 per deployment group) will
      complete a telephone interview that assesses socio-demographic variables, trauma exposures,
      health history, current health status, military environmental factors (organizational and
      situational factors), military and DVA health care and barriers to this care, and self
      reported service use. Descriptive analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis will be
      used.

      Implications: It is unclear if the needs of military women are met by current
      combat-associated PTSD treatments originally based on male populations. It is anticipated
      that our findings will improve understanding of the health risks and outcomes of deployed
      Regular Military service women in contrast to women serving in the R/NG (with PTSD and TBI as
      key outcome variables). Our results consequently will have implications for DoD and DVA
      evidence based interventions for both primary prevention and care.
    

Observational model: Case-Control
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Women and Men who have or are currently serving in the USA regular military.
      
Keywords: Rape; Women; Military; Veterans; Post-traumatic Stress Disorder; Traumatic Brain Injury