Resilience, Stigma and Barriers to Mental Health Care in Air Force Nursing Staff
Rationale/Background: These perceptions may influence the health and readiness of nursing personnel and the care they provide to military beneficiaries. The goal is to use study findings to develop and test intervention(s) that reduce stigma and barriers to care, decrease stress, and promote resilience. These findings may inform policy to encourage access to MHS, as well as, to assure the health of caregivers and improve the retention of personnel.
This study will extend preliminary work that assessed AF nursing personnel’s perceptions of stigma and barriers to accessing MHS among active component AF RNs and medical technicians (N = 211). Most of the sample agreed that Members of my unit might have less confidence in me and My unit leadership might treat me differently. RNs were significantly more likely than medical technicians to agree that accessing MHS would be embarrassing, harm their career, or cause leaders to blame them for the problem (p ≤ .03 for each comparison). Getting time off from work for treatment and scheduling appointments were perceived as barriers by 41% and 21% of respondents, respectively. The authors concluded that the proportions of AF nursing personnel reporting concerns about potential stigmatizing consequences of seeking mental health care are substantial and are similar to ranges previously reported by military service members screening positive for mental health problems after deployment.
Methods: A descriptive comparative design will be utilized to investigate these perceptions with AF RNs and medical technicians stationed at three Medical Groups. The principal investigator (PI) has received the support of the Chief Nurse (CN) of each Medical Group to send an electronic memorandum to potential participants that includes; an invitation to participate, study information, and a uniform resource locator and instructions to complete the secure, anonymous electronic survey.
The PI will travel to each site to speak with available AF nursing staff and answer potential participants’ questions. Supporting staff designated by each CN will e-mail the memorandum to potential participants at each location. Personnel who choose to participate will be asked to complete the survey which includes demographic items, the Britt and Hoge et al. Stigma scale, Hoge et al. Barriers to Care scale, Conner-Davidson-25 Resilience scale, and Perceived Stress Questionnaire. These scales have acceptable reliability and validity and have been utilized in past research with military personnel. The survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes for each participant to complete. The survey will be administered through the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center Clinical Translational Science Center (UNM HSC CTSC) Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) program which allows participants to complete the survey through most electronic devices with internet access.
Data Analysis: IBM® SPSS® will be used to conduct the statistical analysis of the collected data.