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Utilization and Perceived Effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation in Veterans: Results from a National Survey

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Abstract

Objectives

Complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches are increasingly utilized in health care, and mindfulness meditation is one such evidence-based CIH practice. More information is needed about veterans’ utilization of mindfulness to inform integration within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Methods

This study involved secondary data analysis of a national survey to evaluate utilization and perceived effectiveness of mindfulness relative to other CIH approaches among military veterans. Military veterans (n = 1230) enrolled in VHA reported CIH utilization rates, reasons for use, perceived effectiveness, treatment barriers, and demographics.

Results

Approximately 18% of veterans reported using mindfulness meditation in the past year, exceeding the proportion using all other CIH approaches (p < .001), with the exception of massage and chiropractic care. Mindfulness was most commonly used for stress reduction and addressing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Among mindfulness users, veterans rated mindfulness with a mean score of 3.18 out of 5 (SD = 0.82) in terms of effectiveness, reflecting a response in the “somewhat helpful” to “moderately helpful” range. This was similar to ratings of other CIH approaches (mean = 3.20, p = .391). Of those who used mindfulness, nearly all (78%) reported only using it outside the VHA. Veterans identified not knowing if the VHA offered mindfulness as the most common reason for using mindfulness outside VHA.

Conclusions

In summary, veterans use mindfulness for a range of reasons and report receiving benefit from its use. Low awareness and potentially low availability of VHA’s mindfulness programs need to be addressed to increase access.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs Quality Enhancement Research Initiative program (PEC 16-354). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the US Government. Support for this research was also provided by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 335 Education Building, 1000 Bascom Mall, Madison, WI, 53703, USA

    Simon B. Goldberg

  2. Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D) Center of Innovation (COIN), VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA

    Steven B. Zeliadt & John C. Fortney

  3. School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Steven B. Zeliadt

  4. VA HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy (CSHIIP), VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Sepulveda, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Katherine J. Hoggatt & Stephanie L. Taylor

  5. Department of Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Katherine J. Hoggatt

  6. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Tracy L. Simpson & John C. Fortney

  7. Center of Excellence in Substance Abuse and Treatment (CESATE), VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA

    Tracy L. Simpson

  8. Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Stephanie L. Taylor

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  1. Simon B. Goldberg
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Contributions

SBG: conceptualized and executed the secondary data analysis and wrote the paper. SBZ: collaborated on study conceptualization and interpretation of results and edited the paper. KJH: collaborated on design of the primary study, collaborated on interpretation of results, and edited the paper. TLS and JCF: collaborated on study conceptualization and interpretation of results and edited the paper. SLT: lead the design of the primary study, collaborated on study conceptualization and interpretation of results, and edited the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simon B. Goldberg.

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Disclaimer

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This research was conducted in compliance with human subject research ethical standards and approval from relevant governing bodies. The status of this work as quality improvement and not research was confirmed following review by the Research and Development Committee at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

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Due to the nature of this project as quality improvement, informed consent was not required.

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Goldberg, S.B., Zeliadt, S.B., Hoggatt, K.J. et al. Utilization and Perceived Effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation in Veterans: Results from a National Survey. Mindfulness 10, 2596–2605 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01214-7

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