Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

Spring 5-4-2023

Faculty Advisor(s)

Dr. Desiree Crevecoeur-MacPhail

Abstract

Active duty military members can be subjected to significant amounts of stress, trauma, and physical and mental exhaustion during their service periods. It is vital to recognize the extent of these mental health disorders because they affect 27% of veterans, and when not adequately treated, they can lead to increased functional disability, even more so than physical illnesses (Philips, 2016; Wells et al., 1989). This study aims to examine how different types of information influence the perceptions of therapy for veterans. Veterans of all branches of the United States military between the ages of 18 and 100 were asked to participate in this study. The participants were asked to answer a set of questions regarding their attitudes and perceptions of therapy and were then prompted to watch a video with either a testimonial or information on how therapy can help. After the video, participants were asked to complete a second round of the questions they previously answered. The study intends to find that the presentation of testimonial video intervention will result in a greater increase in their positive attitudes towards therapy than informational video intervention, and the presentation of the informational video intervention will result in a greater change in the perception of therapy than the testimonial video intervention. Furthermore, the study intends to find that female veterans will have a greater change in their positive attitudes towards therapy when compared to male veterans, and lastly, younger veterans will have a greater change in their perception of therapy when compared to older veterans. Currently, mental health disorders lead to 21 veteran suicides every day (Shane, 2016), with many of these veterans not seeking therapy due to their perceptions of therapy. The results of the study could lead to changes in how mental health services are perceived, thereby increasing the likelihood that veterans will attend therapy, which would lead to reduced suicides and other negative mental health outcomes.

Comments

Presented at the Spring 2023 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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