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Published Online: 29 October 2019

An Examination of the Roles of Mental Health Literacy, Treatment-Seeking Stigma, and Perceived Need for Care in Female Veterans’ Service Use

Abstract

Objective:

Little is known about the role of mental health literacy in military veterans’ treatment-seeking stigma and service use, or the impact of these factors on perceived need for mental health care. In addition, most research has focused on mixed-gender samples. This study examined the relationships among mental health literacy, treatment seeking stigma, perceived need for mental health care, and service use in a national, longitudinal study of female veterans.

Methods:

A sample of 171 female veterans were drawn from a larger three-wave prospective national survey conducted between 2014 and 2017.

Results:

Path analyses revealed that treatment seeking stigma had a direct negative effect on service use and an indirect effect that was mediated by perceived need for care, such that higher treatment seeking stigma was associated with lower perceived need for mental health care. Mental health literacy had an indirect effect on service use via its inverse association with treatment-seeking stigma. In contrast, mental health literacy was not associated with perceived need.

Conclusions:

Mental health literacy, treatment-seeking stigma, and perceived need for care affect female veterans’ service use in unique ways. Further longitudinal research is needed to better understand these pathways in diverse samples.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 144 - 150
PubMed: 31658896

History

Received: 30 August 2018
Revision received: 5 July 2019
Accepted: 8 August 2019
Published online: 29 October 2019
Published in print: February 01, 2020

Keywords

  1. Veterans issues
  2. Women

Authors

Details

Sarah Krill Williston, Ph.D. [email protected]
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System, Boston (Williston, Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Sciences Division, Boston (Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston (Fox); Boston University School of Medicine, Boston (Vogt, Iverson).
Emily A. Bramande, B.A.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System, Boston (Williston, Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Sciences Division, Boston (Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston (Fox); Boston University School of Medicine, Boston (Vogt, Iverson).
Dawne S. Vogt, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System, Boston (Williston, Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Sciences Division, Boston (Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston (Fox); Boston University School of Medicine, Boston (Vogt, Iverson).
Katherine M. Iverson, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System, Boston (Williston, Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Sciences Division, Boston (Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston (Fox); Boston University School of Medicine, Boston (Vogt, Iverson).
Annie B. Fox, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System, Boston (Williston, Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Sciences Division, Boston (Bramande, Vogt, Iverson); MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston (Fox); Boston University School of Medicine, Boston (Vogt, Iverson).

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Williston ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: USA 14-275
Health Services Research and Developmenthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007217: CDA 10-029
This work was supported by the VA, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Service as part of Dr. Iverson’s HSR&D Career Development Award (CDA-10-029) and her Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (USA-14-275).

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