Developing, offering, and evaluating programs to cultivate resilience for military veterans and their families is work easy to love. New evaluation results are out, and we enjoyed being on a team that included the co-owners of Just Roll With It Wellness LLC, Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas & Semper Sarah Plummer Taylor, MSWc, as well as program community partner Team Red, White & Blue.
Background and Purpose: Military and veteran suicide rates exceed those found in the general population. Veterans often reject patient identities, creating barriers to care for mental health within the clinical sector and a mandate for prevention programs. The purpose of this study was to offer a post- intervention process evaluation of one peer-led resilience program offered to military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan at three sites in 2013.
Methods: Secondary analysis of survey data collected involved mixed-methods analysis of open and closed-ended questions. In total, the research team reviewed 52 electronic survey responses; participant response rate was 48.1%.
Results: Descriptive data analysis found that all participants rated Just Roll With It Bootcamp content as “somewhat useful” (17.9%) or “very useful” (82.1%). Qualitative analysis of open-ended questions found that content was perceived as valuable by participants. Emergent themes included: health practices, social support, and participant quality of life or satisfaction. Comments also informed four subthemes which included: meditation/mindfulness, nutrition, physical practice, and the seminars’ physical environment.
Conclusion: Culturally-informed prevention programs that emphasize social support, physical movement, and peer-leadership have a vital role to play in working to prevent suicide by promoting quality of life for veterans.
Official Article Title – Multi-site Programming Offered to Promote Resilience in Military Veterans: A Process Evaluation of the Just Roll With It Bootcamps
* Full article can be downloaded as a PDF here
HendricksThomas_PlummerTaylor_CJHP2015_Vol13_Issue2_p15-24
Atuhors are – Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas, Sarah Plummer Taylor MSWc, Dr. Karl Hamner, Dr. John Glazer, and Emily Kaufman
© 2015 Californian Journal of Health Promotion. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Veterans health; Health education; Resilience; Mental health; Community programs; Holistic wellness
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the panel of experts who reviewed the survey instrument for their feedback and support in this endeavor and Team Red, White, and Blue, who supported and hosted the 2013 Just Roll With It Bootcamps. This non- profit’s mission is to enrich the lives of America’s veterans through physical activity and social support and can be joined online for free at www.teamrwb.org.
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