Abstract
Many military personnel experience mental health problems, but do not seek professional treatment for their symptoms. The present study examined how support for seeking treatment from family members and friends, unit members, and leaders relate to soldiers’ treatment attitudes and decisions. Active-duty soldiers (N = 1725) completed assessments of perceived social support for treatment-seeking, attitudes toward treatment-seeking, mental health symptoms, and treatment-seeking behaviors. Family and friends were rated as most supportive of seeking treatment and support from all sources was related to a more positive attitude toward treatment seeking. For those who were experiencing a current problem (N = 718), support from all sources was indirectly related to treatment-seeking behaviors through overall attitude toward treatment. Of those who had sought treatment, family and friends were rated as most influential to that decision, and an instrumentally supportive behavior was rated as the most influential out of several supportive leader behaviors. These results demonstrate that support may be an important facilitator of treatment; however, the source of support and specific behaviors may be important considerations in optimally supporting soldiers.
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Notes
The term unit members is used as a general term in this paper. In the specific context of the Army (the population studied in the present study), this could refer to either a service member’s squad (the smallest unit in the Army, typically 6 to 10 members) or potentially their platoon (3 or 4 squads). Because the nature of the work itself could affect what “unit” means to a given soldier, we opt for this more generic term rather than the more specific terms. Still, it is expected that most service members would interpret the term unit as the smallest group with which they regularly work.
Officers are military personnel who have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and who went through formal officer leadership training. Non-commissioned officers are enlisted soldiers who have attained the minimum rank of Sergeant and participated in non-commissioned officer leadership training. Junior enlisted soldiers are those enlisted personnel with the rank of Private, Private First Class, or Specialist.
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Preparation of this manuscript was supported by Grant #W81XWH-11-2-0010 from the Department of Defense, administered by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the U.S. Army Medical Command or the Department of Defense. We would like to thank John Cryer, Fabio Delgado, and David Nege for serving as ombudsmen in the present study, and Mary Anne Raymond for her assistance in data collection.
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Black, K.J., Britt, T.W., Zinzow, H.M. et al. The Role of Social Support in Treatment Seeking Among Soldiers. Occup Health Sci 3, 337–361 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-019-00044-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-019-00044-2