Veteran women with higher trauma symptoms in response to stressors are more likely to seek services

What is it about?

Veteran women who are exposed to trauma are at risk for trauma-related disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and repeated stressful experiences. Services and resources are in high demand for veterans, making it crucial to pinpoint characteristics of veterans who will engage with and need services. The current study examined how treatment utilization related to how reactive or resilient veteran women were in the wake of stressors, with reactivity thought to indicate higher need. Participants in the study were 153 veteran women who had histories of sexual assault. Measurements of PTSD symptoms, stressors, and service utilization were collected 3 times over a 4-month period within a randomized clinical trial. A metric called stressor reactivity (SR) was calculated to represent how reactive versus resilient participants were meaning that more reactive participants had higher PTSD symptoms than expected (i.e., average) in response to stressors and more resilient participants had lower PTSD symptoms than expected in response to stressors. Analyses accounting for measurements over time revealed that average levels of SR related to higher treatment attendance, more resource areas that veterans reported working on, and more resource areas that veterans reported needing to work on. The pattern of results was consistent in a subsample of participants with high stressor exposure, lending support for a more strict definition of resilience. Results indicate that women veterans in highest need of treatment are also more likely to attend treatment and identify areas for potential intervention. Identifying stressor reactive veterans by monitoring stressors and stressor-related symptoms may improve care connection and prevent stressor-related disorders.

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Photo by Sal Cenicacelaya on Unsplash

Photo by Sal Cenicacelaya on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study's results indicate that women veterans in highest need of treatment are also more likely to attend treatment and identify areas for potential intervention. As such, identifying stressor reactive veterans by monitoring stressors and stressor-related symptoms may improve care connection and prevent stressor-related disorders.

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