Letter to the Editor: Population Health Policy Advocacy The Current State of the Quality of Care and Outcomes for Mental Health Disorders among Veterans in Rural Areas
Huge numbers of the U.S. military men and women frequently suffer from post-deployment depression, post-traumatic stress disorders and drug abuse related disorders after returning home from the warzones. Research has indicated that the ability to provide quality care for veterans experiencing mental disorders especially in rural areas is faced with significant challenges (Driscoll et al., 2018). In the U.S., most military recruits are drawn from rural areas thus increasing the prevalence of mental health challenge in the rural setting. Contrary to this notation, veteran affair facilities are located in urban areas. When compared to their counterparts in urban and suburban areas, rural veterans rarely visit healthcare facilities, have limited access to mental health and specialty services, and seems to develop more psychological and physical health issues (Boscarino et al., 2020). Another underlying factor that has contributed to the increased rates of mental health problems among veterans in the rural setting is lack of training and experience among non-VA providers in these areas to effective manage PTSD and other disorders faced by veterans in rural setting (O’malley et al., 2020).
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Why Mental Health Disorders among Veterans in Rural Areas Necessitates Health Policy Development and Advocacy
Recent research on the prevalence of mental health disorders among veterans indicate that older veterans experience similar mental health challenges as younger veterans, but the rate of PTSD differ based of the period the veteran was in service. PTSD rates differ between 10-31%, with the Vietnam-era veterans having high rates of PTSD rates. Despite high rates of PTSD among Vietnam-era veterans, they rarely seek VA mental health services (Driscoll et al., 2018). This aspect is attributed to stigma, little knowledge, limited access to these services, and the normality of addressing mental health issues in primary care settings. Other factors such as lack of proper VA services in rural healthcare facilities, limited VA professionals in rural areas, inability for rural veterans to access VA healthcare services among other tenets necessitates the development of a health policy and advocacy program (Boscarino et al., 2020).