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ETD Abstract Container

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Psychological Inoculation and Resiliency Training Program

Wert, Janine Jackson
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406653492

Abstract Details

2007, Master of Social Work, Ohio State University, Social Work.
American military members returning from deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate mental health issues requiring urgent intervention. Intense combat stress compounded by extended and multiple deployments, stop/loss policies (compulsory continuation of military service), uncertain recall timelines, and expanded ground warfare for military members untrained for combat situations, contributes to the increasing need for mental health services. More than 1.4 million veterans have returned from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Military members present an initial Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) prevalence of ten percent and twenty-six percent present with a mental disorder diagnosis when first returning from combat. According to researchers, the incidence of PTSD may double within two years post deployment. As many as sixty percent of military members who screen positive for PTSD, generalized anxiety, or depression do not seek mental health services. The most common reason cited is stigma. Those diagnosed with PTSD endure: Protracted human pain and suffering Significant occupational effects Increased interpersonal dysfunction, divorce rates, substance abuse, incidence and severity of medical and legal issues, and suicide risk Researchers postulate that veterans with PTSD rarely fully recover. A pre-deployment training program focused on increasing resiliency to mental health disorders inoculates military members prior to deployment with specific coping skills and provides an effective cognitive processing framework. Researchers and policy makers support a preventative approach as optimum, have proven structured training produces effective change, and report psychological resilience can be learned and implemented through a training program. A pre-deployment inoculation approach stems issues related to stigma, lessens the burden on the mental and medical health systems, and society, and most importantly, significantly decreases human pain and suffering of military members and their families following in-theater military service. A literature review reveals program foundational theoretical approaches including social support, internal locus of control, self-efficacy, optimism, coping skills, and cognitive behavioral training fosters mental resilience and recovery. A preventive psychological program enabling military members to flourish following their deployment, both mentally and physically, would increase post-traumatic adjustment and growth. Short-term and long-term objectives of the Psychological Inoculation and Resiliency Training Program include a decrease in incidence rates of: divorce, substance abuse, legal involvement, unemployment and homelessness, PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Additionally, this program will decrease provision of both acute and non-acute mental health services in theater and in local communities, and decrease military psychological evacuation rates from the theater of operations. The Psychological Inoculation and Resiliency Training Program impacts societal, military, and individual stability by decreasing: Human anguish and suffering Suicide rate of military members and veterans Burden on civilian and military Mental Health systems Encumbrance on the civilian and military Legal Systems Reliance on Social Services and Compensation and Pension. Societal and individual social/economic stability would be increased along with an increase in the United States Armed Forces stability, reliability, and voluntary retention rates. Finally, this program will foster, through post-traumatic growth, a new generation of national leaders with military combat experience.
Tom Gregoire (Advisor)
Gil Greene (Committee Member)
85 p.
Social Work

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wert, J. J. (2007). Psychological Inoculation and Resiliency Training Program [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406653492

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wert, Janine. Psychological Inoculation and Resiliency Training Program. 2007. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406653492.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wert, Janine. "Psychological Inoculation and Resiliency Training Program." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406653492

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1406653492
311
© 2007, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12