Pilot outcomes of a filmmaking intervention designed to enhance treatment entry and social reintegration of veterans.

Military personnel transitioning to civilian life have reported significant challenges in reintegrating into civilian culture. Filmmaking has been used as a therapeutic intervention to enhance the community reintegration of veterans, but there are no published quantitative data documenting its impact. The present study provides outcome data on 40 veterans who participated in the I Was There (IWT) filmmaking workshop.

Gender differences in associations between DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder symptom clusters and functional impairment in war veterans.

Understanding the links between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and functional impairment is essential for assisting veterans in transitioning to civilian life. Moreover, there may be differences between men and women in the relationships between PTSD symptoms and functional impairment. However, no prior studies have examined the links between functional impairment and the revised symptom clusters as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed.

Promising practices in vocational services for the community reintegration of returning veterans: The individual placement and support model and beyond.

Supporting returning veterans' job-seeking, hiring, and retention issues has become an essential goal for effective community reintegration. Given both the particular strengths and challenges associated with veterans transitioning from military to civilian life, multiple models for supported employment have become integrated into Veterans Affairs health care facilities across the nation. In this article, we review the state of vocational rehabilitation for veterans, with a particular focus on individual placement and support-supported employment (IPS-SE), the current vocational services model that is considered the gold standard of vocational rehabilitation.

Effects of social support and resilient coping on violent behavior in military veterans.

Violence toward others has been identified as a serious postdeployment adjustment problem in a subset of Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans. In the current study, we examined the intricate links between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), commonly cited psychosocial risk and protective factors, and violent behavior using a national randomly selected longitudinal sample of Iraq- and Afghanistan-era United States veterans. A total of 1,090 veterans from the 50 United States and all United States military branches completed 2 waves of self-report survey-data collection 1 year apart (retention rate = 79%).

Using peer support groups to enhance community integration of veterans in transition.

Peer support groups, also known as "self-help groups," provide a unique tool for helping veterans working through the military-to-civilian transition to achieve higher levels of social support and community integration. The number and variety of community-based peer support groups has grown to the point that there are now more visits to these groups each year than to mental health professionals. The focus of these groups on the provision of social support, the number and variety of groups, the lack of cost, and their availability in the community make them a natural transition tool for building community-based social support.

Adding contingency management intervention to vocational rehabilitation: outcomes for dually diagnosed veterans.

In this random-assignment trial, we evaluated the efficacy of using a contingency management (CM) intervention to enhance job acquisition and tenure among participants of a vocational rehabilitation (VR) program. The CM intervention offered participants cash incentives up to $1,170 for completing tasks related to sobriety and job search and maintenance. Participants were 100 veterans with comorbid psychiatric disorders and substance dependence who were randomly assigned either to VR only or VR + CM.

Housing preferences of homeless veterans with dual diagnoses.

Previous research indicates that most homeless persons with mental illness prefer independent living, while most clinicians recommend group housing. This study compared residential preferences of 141 homeless veterans with dual diagnoses with those of 62 homeless nonveterans with dual diagnoses. Clinicians rated both groups while they were in transitional shelters before they were placed in housing.

Building the future: psychosocial rehabilitation with a Veterans Construction Team.

The Veterans Construction Team (VCT) is an innovative form of Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) for unemployed, homeless veterans who have had a history of substance abuse and/or a serious mental or medical illness. The VCT model builds social support and self-esteem, while delivering tangible services to public entities and providing a relatively high rate of pay and exceptional opportunities for skill development. This brief report outlines the VCT model, reviews VCTs development and operations, and describes participant reactions.