“A hidden community”: the experiences of help-seeking and receiving mental health treatment in UK women Veterans. A qualitative study

Gavin M. Campbell; Victoria Williamson; Dominic Murphy

doi:10.1177/0095327X231182140

“A hidden community”: the experiences of help-seeking and receiving mental health treatment in UK women Veterans. A qualitative study

Gavin M. Campbell
, Victoria Williamson
, Dominic Murphy

Department of Psychology

Centre for Applied Military Health Research
King's College London
University of Oxford

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Women veterans are often underserved in both the research into and provision of mental health treatment. This study explored women veterans’ experiences of mental health difficulties, help-seeking, and treatment provision. Semistructured telephone interviews with 19 U.K. women veterans who met criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder were conducted and Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used in analysis. Three superordinate themes encompassing participants’ experiences were developed: (a) attitudes toward mental health and help-seeking; (b) the need to acknowledge the uniqueness of women veterans; and (c) the structural elements of care provision. The findings indicate that women veterans have additional gender-specific challenges and needs concerning tailored pathways into help and support, as well as the environment and modality of treatment delivery, as distinct from veteran men.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	22-45
Number of pages	24
Journal	Armed Forces and Society
Volume	51
Issue number	1
Early online date	6 Jul 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X231182140 https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X231182140
Publication status	Published - 31 Jan 2025

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge and thank all participants in the study, and the Women\u2019s Royal Army Corps Association for their invaluable assistance. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the UK Office for Veterans\u2019 Affairs under Grant G2-SCH-2021-12-9578/79. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the UK Office for Veterans\u2019 Affairs under Grant G2-SCH-2021-12-9578/79.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

female
help-seeking
military
trauma
treatment
veteran
women

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Sociology and Political Science
Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Safety Research

Access to Document

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Victoria-Williamson-4/publication/372165725_''A_Hidden_Community''_The_Experiences_of_Help-_Seeking_and_Receiving_Mental_Health_Treatment_in_UK_Women_Veterans_A_Qualitative_Study/links/64a7c876b9ed6874a501d906/A-Hidden-Community-The-Experiences-of-Help-Seeking-and-Receiving-Mental-Health-Treatment-in-UK-Women-Veterans-A-Qualitative-Study.pdf

Cite this

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“A hidden community”: the experiences of help-seeking and receiving mental health treatment in UK women Veterans. A qualitative study

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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