The health and wellbeing needs of veterans: a rapid review
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Date
2017-12-29
Authors
Oster, Candice
Morello, Andrea
Venning, Anthony
Redpath, Paula
Lawn, Sharon Joy
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC
Rights
Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Rights Holder
© The Author(s). 2017
Abstract
Background: For the majority of serving members, life in the military has a positive effect on wellbeing. However,
the type, intensity and duration of service, along with the transition from fulltime military to civilian life, may have a
negative effect on veterans’ wellbeing. Such negative consequences, alongside the growing veteran population,
indicate the need for greater exploration of veterans’ physical, mental and social wellbeing.
Methods: The current paper reports on the findings of a rapid review of the literature on the health and wellbeing
needs of veterans, commissioned by the Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs to inform future programs and
services. The databases Embase, Medline, Cinahl, PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Database were searched
for systematic reviews reporting on veterans’ physical, mental and social wellbeing published in English in peerreviewed
journals.
Results: A total of 21 systematic reviews were included. The reviews reported on a range of mental, physical and
social health problems affecting veterans. While there was limited information on prevalence rates of physical,
mental and social health problems in veterans compared to civilian populations, the reviews demonstrated the
interconnection between these domains and the effect of demographic and military service factors.
Conclusions: A key finding of the review is the interconnection of the mental, physical, and social health of
veterans, highlighting the importance that an integrated approach to veterans’ wellbeing is adopted. It is
suggested that understanding key factors, such as demographic factors and factors relating to military service, can
support improved service provision for veterans.
Description
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Keywords
veteran, rapid review, health, mental health, social care
Citation
Oster, C., Morello, A., Venning, A., Redpath, P. & Lawn, S., (2017). The health and wellbeing needs of veterans: a rapid review. BMC Psychiatry, 17:414.